RIYADH: Anderson Talisca stepped up on Tuesday night in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring a memorable hat-trick as Al-Nassr won 3-2 at Al-Duhail to maintain their 100 percent record in this season’s Asian Champions League and, with two games left to play in the group stage, move within a whisker of securing their place in the knockout rounds.
It was not quite a repeat of the thrilling 4-3 victory in Riyadh against the same Qatari opposition in October but it was a fine win nonetheless — the 16th in their last 17 games — and greatly inspired by the in-form Brazilian.
Al-Nassr have a maximum 12 points from their four Group E games so far and sit five points clear of Persepolis of Iran in second, needing just one point from their last two group games to be sure of progressing to the next round.
Ronaldo was being rested on Tuesday, according to coach Luis Castro, and perhaps it was because their captain was missing but the nine-time Saudi champions took a little time to get going in Doha.