A disallowed goal and a penalty missed! Was Al Nassr damaged in Saudi Arabia’s biggest derby?

Al Nassr versus Al Hilal, the biggest derby in Saudi Arabia. The brilliance of the match is only marred by the injury to Neymar, which would make the duel even more brilliant. The Super Cup semi-final was eventually dominated by Al Hilal, but the match was marred by some strange refereeing verdicts.

In the last match between the two sides, Al Hilal clearly won 3-0. Milinkovic-Savic scored once and his teammate Mitrovic twice.

The match was evenly matched in terms of statistics, but productivity was the decisive factor. Moreover, after a close offside by Ronaldo, the equalising goal was disallowed. Al Nassr’s biggest stars then didn’t like the way it was whistled.

Al Nassr succumbed to their opponents

Already in the 2nd minute of the match, Neves shot dangerously, the Al-Nassr goalkeeper just knocked the ball away and from the rebound the uncovered goal was missed by Al-Dawsari. David Ospina also had to go down in the 15th minute when he made a fantastic save from a shot by Al Bulayh.

It was clear to see that Al-Nassr had learned from the last defeat. The players in blue and yellow did not allow their opponents to play standard situations and when there was one, Laporte and co. did their defensive duties responsibly.

Cristiano Ronaldo had the best chance of the first half when he went alone at goalkeeper Boun, but missed the target. However, the most controversial moment came at the very end of the half. A ground pass from Mané dropped to the back post, where Otávio easily cleared it into the net. However, after an examination, the referee called offside.

Ronaldo, who was offside, reached for the ball in vain, but did not reach it. According to many fans, Otávio was in no way offside. By the set trend of the moment, it was supposedly a regulation goal.

In the 62nd minute, Al-Dawsari opened the scoring with a beautiful shot to the back post. 10 minutes later, the Blues were able to celebrate for a second time. Michael’s centre found the head of Malcom, who was able to deal with the header at penalty level.

Then in the video below you can see Ronaldo’s wrestling withdrawal in the penalty area at a corner kick. What is striking is that the tackle was not examined by VAR, yet it was a clear penalty.

Ronaldo then failed to control the heated atmosphere at the end of the game and got himself sent off. Without him, Al Nassr just levelled the score with a goal from Mané. The famous number seven is still waiting for his first competitive trophy in the Saudi Arabian national team.

Source: Saudi Pro League, X