Ronaldo hits a HAT-TRICK to reach 985 ⛵️ | Powered by Toyota

Down to 1-0 early in the match, two down at the break. It had nightmare first defeat of the season written all over it. But back came the champion. Well, this is a repeat of the opening fixture from last season. And Al Town were beaten 5-0 at home by Al Nasser at the end of August last year. And Joao... Al Nassr's line-up shows a couple of changes, one of them enforced with Bento suspended following his red card on Tuesday. It means a first appearance of the season for fit again Nawaf Al-Aqidi in goal. Mohamed Simakan returns in defence after sitting out the last two. It means there's a breather on the bench for Inigo Martinez. Cristiano Ronaldo makes his second start of the season. Shao Felix has four goals. As with the hosts, Al Town also make a couple of changes with summer signing Zinedine Belaid, an Algerian international returning to the defence and Mohamed Alakel making his first start of the campaign on the right wing. Certainly got them playing his way and Spastokoglu, you can see a different group at the World Cup this summer, fit again and available and in the team in the absence of the suspended. Well he looked like that throughout the whole? Here comes Sadio Mane. He was the star of the show on Tuesday night. In the end, that's a terrific-looking ball, but a little bit close to the game. And there's a coach with plenty on his plate tonight. Luchau looking lively. Coman in possession. Lovely ball. Joao Felix with the flick. Angelo collects. Ronaldo's in the middle. Hasn't missed a minute so far this season. 29 years of age, he's got all the experience. He reads the game very well. Good ball that from Mohamed Simakan. And Ronaldo was chasing. They were watching him closely. And now Al Nassr will have a corner. First of the match. Yeah, he has, but what a record. He scored 115 goals in 109 appearances. How can you boo him for that? It was outstanding, and the ball just breaks loose, and it takes a deflection off the top of the crossbar, and Al Town have the lead. Ten minutes played, and the champions are behind. What a start. Bassam Al-Hurayji. Now Nawaf Al-Aqidi's first appearance of the season, and he's picking it out of the net ten minutes in. Well it's certainly against the run of the play, early on it's a bit scrappy, Hamdallah can't really get hold of the ball and it's a deflected shot from the edge of the box, it loops up and over the goalkeeper, there's nothing that he can do, Al-Aqidi in goal, it falls very very kindly to Al-Hurayji, it's a simple task for him to tap it down to the unrushing goalkeeper, double deflection, up and over the goalkeeper, his positioning's good, there's nothing that the goalkeeper can do, he's so unfortunate, just bobbles out of his grasp, Al-Hurayji's first on site. He gives the visitors the most unlikeliest of leads. It's that massive deflection of Samu Costa that caused all the problem there. And straighted figure down there on the touchline. He's got a chance to look again at the goal. The double deflection. The biggest one was off Samu Costa. Nothing the goalkeeper Al-Aqidi can do about it. He goes full length after the initial shot. He gets up and he tries to react and credit to the goalkeeper. He almost gets a block on it. Al-Hurayji's shot finds the back of the net. He's unlucky, the goalkeeper there in that situation. There's not a lot he can do. He was back on his feet almost before he'd fallen over, wasn't he? Great reactions, yeah, that's what they say when you're doing the goal. Bouchard, Angelo's delivery, but way too much on that, goes sailing over Ronaldo's head. They don't necessarily need the two defensive holding midfielders, but he can certainly adapt his game to play further up the field. Simakan steps in, just as El Barraoui, as if he might be building up ahead of Steve. for the season. Here come our town once more. Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa in the Premier League. Here come Al-Taoun. Oh, that's a lovely turn there by El Barraoui. Comfortable enough though for Al-Akidi. Speaking of top strikers, Hamdallah got one here, Al-Taoun and Ronaldo. This is Bouchala, much a new era at Villa Park. It's Kingsley Coman sending it in and almost into the back of his own net there. Quick to take it and mix it up from the corner as Angelo sends it over. It's a better looking flight on that one. This is Sadio Mane, scorer of two goals earlier in the week, and it took a little deflection on the way through, so it will be a corner kick for Al Nasser. Incidence there, best run of play from Al Nasser in the game. Kingsley Coman had the ball on the right-hand side. Sadio Mane. Now Bouchala, he's got Angelo on the near side. Yellow shirts gathering in and around the penalty area, into Kingsley Coman with the pull back. It just needed a touch. He's just caught in his heels a little bit, the far post. Cristiano Ronaldo goes through Maelson's legs. I don't think he expected that. Portuguese does well, Koeman. He just looks up and he fires it hard and low. Not really looking to pick anybody out. I think Cristiano Ronaldo. Mostly a rear-guard action at the moment for the visiting side, but maybe the opportunity to break here with Younes El Barraoui. He's got Abderrazak Hamdallah now in possession. Hamdallah looks for an opening and the defender counter-attacks at one point the two on two. He's experienced, he keeps himself onside, he holds it, it's not the area of the pitch that he wants the ball but he makes it work, he gets into the 18-yard. The sort of player that you can learn an awful lot from and they develop a good understanding, it could be a fruitful partnership this season as a shot goes remaining in the first half. Here's the shot from the Liberia Inter up this time, Angelo. Into Ronaldo, back with the young Brazilian once more. Mane's been waiting in space on the far side. Plenty to aim at in the middle. Nelson Al-Nasser looking to build up the pressure late in the first half here. Ronaldo trying to find a little sighting on goal, but can't pick out a teammate. Low with his head. This is the penalty that Cristiano Ronaldo wanted. Feels there was a little check. He'd already played the ball. Mufarraji, body checks him, stops him going into the pen. Back on his feet. Angelo with it at his feet. To the far post. Mane collects, denied by Mileson. 6'6 of him, Angelo finding himself on this right-hand side once again. You know what he's going to do, he's going to drift onto his left foot. He misses everybody. It's a really good first touch from Sadio Mane. Hit hard, straight at the goalkeeper. Helps him answer, they're not really playing with much urgency at the moment. It's all very much one-paced. Crescencio Somerville will score. Here comes Sadio Mane. It's some way wide. Somerville scoring for Al-Hilal. 4-1 they lead, away to Al-Khaleej. Sadio Mane, and still. Charles Félix, Salem Al-Najdi, away to Sadio Mane. It's 1-1 and Samu Costa scores his second goal of the season. This game, that is such a tidy finish from Samu Costa, it really is. It's such a difficult technique from that type of distance as well. Sadio Mane sets him, it's a lovely connection with his left foot and he just sweeps it into the bottom right-hand corner. Sadio Mane puts perfect pace on the pass. And he meets it, he knows he's got to hit it first time. It starts off outside the post and he just... Equalising goal towards the end of the half, coming from Samu Costa there, beautifully placed into the bottom corner of the net. His second goal since arriving in the Saudi Pro League during the summer and very well taken indeed. Drawing Ange Postecoglou's side level, almost on the stroke of half-time. At half-time, it's Al Nassr 1, Al Town 1. On Tuesday, so he is on, just evading his lunge at the far post. Angelo's delivery, and there's the familiar figure of Al-Amri trying to get on the end of it. Lovely play, brilliant silky skills from Joao Felix trying to tee it up. Mohamed Simakan gets the deflection, and Cristiano Ronaldo flicks it home. Ronaldo takes the applause and the acclaim of the crowd. It was Simakan's shot and it was very much that sent it into the back of the net. Well he's not sure. He's looking around Cristiano Ronaldo to see if he's onside and he certainly is onside. Defenders coming out there at the bottom of the screen. Petkov I think it is plays him on side. It's just an instinctive finish from Cristiano Ronaldo. It's a good strike from Simakan. Puts it goalwards. I think he could have left it Ronaldo. It was heading in anyway. But you tell him to leave that in front of goal, absolutely not a chance. And he's onside, the goal is going to stand. Goal number 900. We're seeing, played onside by a defender on the near side, it might have been the goal scorer, the right back. I think it was, I do think it was, yeah. I think it was Al-Haraji maybe, or Petkov. But I think one of the defenders, they tracked the run in, and the Al-Town players haven't seen it because it's on the blind side. A treat in Al-Town defender. And you see here at the top of the screen, I actually think it's El Madiwi, number 18 there. He goes in with Joao Felix. You keep going, the captain. Left-hand side of the screen. He's the one that plays Cristiano Ronaldo onside. Bottom right side of the screen this time. It is, it's the captain, El Madiwi, number 18. He plays Ronaldo onside. Joao Felix. The delivery's not right. This is the goal again. Simakan, it's a controlled finish. I do think it was heading towards the back of the net. He's not going to give up a free goal, is he? Two yards out and a tap-in. Yes, please, get me closer to that 1,000th finish. He didn't look sure, did he, as whether the... Sadio Mane into Joao Felix, rides the first challenge, support to the right, provided by Ronaldo. Oscar across. There's going to be a free kick there. That is clever, Cristiano Ronaldo. He knows that he's not got options right, but in between defender and ball, he knows exactly what's coming from the... Felix predictably leaves it. It's Ronaldo. It's an easy header away back to... ...in this game. Couldn't argue if they want them to win this game by two or three goals. Now Bouchard against Mufarij and still going. This is brilliant from Bouchard, all that was missing. This is Matev Al-Mufarij sending it forward. Pierre Ghosn now into Hamdallah, just... Showed a little too much of that to Abdellah Al-Amri. He's had to feed on scraps tonight, Hamdallah. An opportunity. Excellent goalscoring record in the Saudi Pro League. Sadio Mane, still Mane, bit of space here, chance to shoot for Angelo. Just a little bit out of reach for Costa. That looked quite hefty on Sadio Mane, there'll be a card for that. Out of the challenge, they got their first by a long, long way. Hamdan. Abdullah Alhamdan, who came off the bench the other night and really put himself about, made a nuisance of himself. Sadio Mane, Ronaldo's ahead of him. Mane's still in possession. Here comes Joao Felix, diving in at the far post with Kingsley Coman. Coming on, is this the moment when Ronaldo has the opportunity to just rest his legs for the closing stages of the match? Interesting to see what he does, Ange Postecoglou, because with Alhamdan coming on, you can't see where the change would come from elsewhere. Angelo Acosta, Postecoglou. Raul Cabare fits into that. Angelo collecting for Al Nasser. Bit of space here for Joao Felix, he'll like that. This is Sadio Mane, slamming the foot of the post and still going Mane. He's going to be penalised there. I mean, he was going for the ball, but... Took everybody by surprise there, Sadio Mane. Everybody thought he was going to look for Ronaldo or Felix in the middle with a pullback, but unlucky to hit the near post. And it's Cristiano Ronaldo, whose name echoes around the stadium. Scorer of the goal that separates the two teams, who takes his leave amid great adulation, of course, from the home crowd. Ronaldo off, Abdullah Alhamdan on, and Al-Khaibri is going to be on for Angelo as well. Two very much like-for-like substitutes. It's late in the game, the heat and the humidity. And Ange Postecoglou's elongated pre-season that the others had, he certainly didn't get. But as expected, he's on the score sheet once again, ever nearer that 1,000th goal. A little bit of nervousness among some of the home crowd, I think. It's really been a test for Al-Aqidi for quite a long time in this game. The challenge was a sturdy one from Al-Amri. Gets there first, Al-Amri just gets caught as he plays the ball. Good defending. Good defending again. He loves it, doesn't he? Look at him, you can see. Decent night at the office so far for Cristiano Ronaldo and Angelo. Delivered into the heart of midfield. Al-Talai losing the ball. Here's Joao Felix. Good save, Mendy. Just opened up for him there, Felix, didn't it? Did it all himself. He won the ball back. He ran the ball at the heart. I think he made the right decision there, Joao Felix. The shot was on. Decent save from the goalkeeper. He'd have liked it wider of him. Brilliant skill, Joao Felix. Into Mane. He was toppling over as he tried the shot. And Al-Sulayim, unable to block it, it was going wide in. He is great to watch. I was going to say, I think he just slips, doesn't he, as he hits it, Sadio Mane. Joao Felix manages to get the ball to him. He strikes it just as he's going over. This is the earlier attempt from João Félix. It's a comfort. When the dust settles, if it is to stay like this for the Old Town manager, they do struggle in front of goal. There's the final whistle. It's four from four for Al Nasser. And Cristiano Ronaldo's goal wins the match and secures the three points. It's been an excellent week.