Cristiano Ronaldo’s brace was the difference as Al-Nassr eased to a 3-1 victory over Al Khaleej in Saudi King’s Cup semi-final clash, MySportDab reports.
The iconic footballer opened the scoring for Al-Nassr just 17 minutes into the game. Al Khaleej’s schoolboy defending led to the goal, no thanks to a poor back pass by Lisandro Lopez.
At the instance of the back pass, Ronaldo breathed on the Al-Khaleej goalkeeper’s neck before scoring with a left-foot volley.
Eight minutes before the break, Al-Nassr consolidated on the lead through a spot kick. Octavio had won the Knights of Najd a penalty after his attempted pass inside the box was handled by an Al Khaleej defender. The referee pointed to the spot and Mane converted it flawlessly to double the lead.
It ended 2-0 at the break with Al Nassr en route to a deserved victory. The second half was a no departure from the first. Al-Nassr continued on their dominant performance
Three minutes before the hour mark, Cristiano Ronaldo was on target again for his brace. The Portuguese forward fired a first thunderbolt from afar but was punched away by Al Khaleej’s goalkeeper. The rebound fell back for him and he did not miss it this time.
With three goals up before the hour mark, the Luis Castro-led side were one leg in the final of the competition but suffered a comeback scare in the 82nd minute.
Al Khaleej star Al Haydar scored an easy tap-in from a cross after being left unmarked in the box to reduce the deficit for Al Khaleej.
Al Haydar’s goal turned out to be a consolation goal as Al Nassr held on to win 3-1 after the final whistle.
The win has seen the club set up a King’s Cup final clash with arch-rivals Al-Hilal, who defeated Al-Ittihad 2-1 in the other semi-final to book a place in the final.
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