Al-Hilal is the ruler of Saudi Arabia! Al-Nassr, led by Ronaldo, didn’t handle the duel at all

The fifteenth round of Saudi Arabia’s top competition offered the most anticipated duel of the season. Teams with a number of stars in their midst, who have transferred from top European clubs in the summer, competed. However, Al-Hilal managed the duel better, beating Al-Nassr 3-0.

First half

Al-Hilal, the home side, entered the match more actively. From the start, the home side created scoring opportunities, although they failed to convert them. Aleksandar Mitrovic got the first shot in the 3rd minute, but his shot went just wide. Salem Al Dawsari had 2 chances in the first 15 minutes, but neither ended in a goal.

The visiting team also created a chance, but unfortunately Anderson Talisca had no peace to finish and shot over the bar. Al-Hilal also managed to frequently put the visiting strikers offside, which is why the first half also ended goalless.

Alex Telles was injured in the first half, suffering a muscle type injury. Seko Fofana came to the rescue at the end as he collided with Otávio and was fouled by a defender in the whitewash. Unfortunately for the visitors, the Al-Nassr striker was offside so no penalty was kicked.

Second half

The visitors had the better start to the second half, trying to actively attack their opponents and causing problems for the home side with their more active approach. The first big chance after the break came again to Al Dawsari, who took an individual action to shoot in the whitewash, but he hit directly the visitors’ goalkeeper.

In the 64th minute, however, the score was already changing as Sergej Milinkovic-Savic headed into the air after a centre from Abdulhamid to send the home side into the lead. Almost immediately after the goal, Cristiano Ronaldo had a chance but just missed the left post. In the 74th minute, the Portuguese striker scored from a free-kick, but his joy was spoiled by a millimetre offside. The referee did not change his decision despite his huge protests.

In the 84th minute, it was Ronaldo who staggered to the ground after a clash with Boun, but the referee did not decide to award the penalty. The tragedy for the visitors was the goal at 2: 0, when Mitrovic used his hands to help himself in a fight with Ronaldo and scored. The visitors appealed for a foul, but again failed with the referee. After that, all the players of the visitors went on the attack, which resulted in a break, which Mitrovic was again on the end of. He closed the score to the final 3:0.

Al-Nassr’s dysfunctional midfield

If there is any aspect of the game that lost the visitors the match today, it is the central three. The defensive duo of Brozovic-Fofana did not have their day. The Croatian was very inaccurate by his standards and his teammate was often left sown up front, not filling the necessary spaces when defending. Add to that Otávio, who held the ball and in most cases ended up losing it, and Ronaldo and Mané had very little support.

Al-Hilal increased the lead to 7 points

One thing is worse for the visitors than the loss itself. With the win, home side Al-Hilal have increased their lead at the top of the table over Al-Nasser to 7 points. Ronaldo and co. will thus have a very hard time coming back within reach of their opponent today.

Moreover, Al-Hilal still remain unbeaten this season, which makes a possible catch-up with Al-Nassr very difficult.

Source: Saudi Pro League