da wazamba： Cristiano Ronaldo's wastefulness cost Al-Nassr the chance to become the first team to beat Al-Hilal in the league as the two sides drew 1-1.
da apostebet： Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Otavio opens scoring after 22 secondsWasteful Ronaldo misses four sittersMitrovic equalises in the 100th minuteTELL ME MORE
Al-Nassr started the game with a bang when Otavio scored a long-range screamer past a stranded Yassine Bounou just 22 seconds after kick-off. Al-Nassr continued to dominate proceedings in the first half against an out-of-sorts, Al-Hilal. However, it was a poor showing by Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed three rather easy chances in front of Bounou's goal.
The second half was another story entirely as Al-Hilal seemed to shake off the cobwebs and return to their usual best. However, they failed to find their rhythm in the final third as they couldn't work the ball regularly into Al-Nassr's box. Playing on the counter, Ronaldo was wasteful yet again as Bounou's heroics kept the champions in the game.
The result was thrown into a frenzy in injury time after Sadio Mane seemed to catch Saud Abdulhamid in the face with his elbow inside the box. After a long VAR check, the penalty was awarded to Al-Hilal, with Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten Saudi Pro League record alive, as the champions look to become the first invincibles in Saudi Pro League history.
AdvertisementGetty THE MVP
On a day where not a lot of players did too well, it was Otavio's early opener that settled the game in Al-Nassr's favour. The Portuguese midfielder also tied down Al-Hilal's midfield in the first half to allow them to create multiple threats at goal and dominate proceedings.
The other hero was Al-Hilal keeper Bounou who kept Al-Hilal in the game as they managed to equalise late into injury time thanks to Mitrovic's penalty.
GettyTHE BIG LOSER
Al-Nassr could have easily held a four-goal lead as they headed down the tunnel at half-time, had it not been for a wasteful performance from Ronaldo as he failed to capitalise on Otavio, Sadio Mane and Alex Telles' strong showing in the final third as they tried to set-up the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
The second half saw a quiet showing from the Portuguese before he had the chance to finish the match late on but was denied spectacularly by Bono.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Al-Nassr will now finish their league campaign with matches against Al-Riyadh and Al-Ittihad before taking on Al-Hilal again in the King Cup of Champions final.