Al-Nassr emphatic again as Al-Ahli stumble

Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr continue to be on fire as they won 5-1 at Al-Hazem on Saturday to move within touching distance of the top spot of the Roshn Saudi League.

With Al-Ahli losing 5-1 at Al-Fateh and Al-Ittihad going down 4-3 on Friday to new leaders Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, who lost the first two games of the season, are just four points off pole position three matches later.

Scoring 14 goals in the last three games suggests that, in an attacking sense at least, coach Luis Castro is finding his feet in Saudi Arabia.

As the 18 top tier teams heading into the international break, the Yellows could be the team that are slightly regretful that the league will pause for a couple of weeks as they are simply irresistible at the moment.

The same can be said for Ronaldo who now has six goals in three. Five of those came in the previous two games as Al-Nassr defeated Al-Fateh 5-0 and then won 4-0 at home to Al-Shabab on Tuesday. This time, the 38 year-old was more of a provider.  

There he was just after the half-hour drawing three defenders on the edge of the area and then slipping the ball through to Abdulrahman Ghareeb who then also picked his time and slipped the ball into the net past goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen from close range. It was another slick move from the visitors.

The second goal came on the stroke of half-time. The hosts failed to clear a Marcelo Brozovic corner and there was Abdullah Al-Khaibari at the far post to shoot home. 

It looked as if that was game over but just three minutes after the break the newly-promoted team pulled one back and were right back in it. It was a spectacular strike that came out of nowhere. Mohamed Badamosi picked up the ball in a central position 35 metres away from goal,