A goal up after 10 seconds, Al-Nassr stroll past Abha into King’s Cup semi-finals

RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo drew a blank but some of his clinical finishing seems to be rubbing off on teammates, as Al-Nassr defeated Abha 3-1 on Tuesday to stroll into the semi-finals of the King’s Cup.

So comfortable was the victory for the Riyadh side that toward the end coach Rudi Garcia had the luxury of being able to substitute the 38-year-old, five-time Ballon D’or winner, who had been booked just before the break.

The fact that Garcia was able to replace the Portuguese star with the league’s top scorer, Anderson Talisca, recently recovered from injury, was evidence that Al-Nassr seem more than capable of continuing to challenge on two fronts.

In addition to their cup run, they sit in second spot in the league just a point behind Al-Ittihad, and will return to that campaign on Saturday when they again face Abha.

The southwesterners, meanwhile, who have lost four of their last five in the league, will know not to make the same mistakes they did on Tuesday, when they found themselves behind inside 10 seconds and were always playing catch-up.

Just as Bournemouth scored straight from the kick-off in their match against Arsenal this month, so did Al-Nassr as Sultan Al-Ghannam found Sami Al-Najei in the area, who put his side ahead. Suddenly, Abha had a mountain to climb.

The game seemed almost done and dusted just 20 minutes later when Abdullah Al-Khaibari fired home after a cross from Ghislain Konan, volleying a low, left-footed shot from just inside the area.

Ronaldo also caused problems for the visitors as he continued to drive his team forward, though he was unable to get a clear sight of goal himself. He was shown a yellow card after the referee blew for half time for picking up the ball and drop-kicking it