Al Nassr hope to overcome fatigue and Ronaldo injury scare when they take on Al Hilal

When Al Nassr found out their fixture list for the 2023/24 season, the last week of November immediately stood out as one where they would need to navigate two tricky fixtures back-to-back. The hope at Al Awwal Park was that they would have already sealed qualification to the AFC Champions League round of 16 before having to play Persepolis in their penultimate match of the group, scheduled just a few days before they take on eternal rivals Al Hilal.

Luis Castro’s side found themselves nearly there, going into Monday’s home encounter against the Iranian giants who had two years earlier eliminated them in an Champions League semi-final. Al Nassr had picked up the maximum 12 points from their first four matches, but that was not yet enough to win the group, with Persepolis having picked up seven points, meaning the Saudi Pro League giants still needed at least a point from their remaining two games.

To further complicate things, Al Nassr lost their first two matches of the SPL season, leaving them to play catch-up on Al Hilal. They have roared back impressively, winning 11 of 12 league games.

With such calculations in mind, Castro had to make a decision about whether to rotate his squad for the game against Persepolis, potentially risking a defeat but preserving his best players for Friday's Riyadh derby, or to go full-strength, risk injuries, but ensure that even a defeat in Dushanbe on the final day of the continental group stage against Istiklol wouldn’t matter.

Eventually, the Portuguese tactician made five changes to the starting XI that beat Al Okhdood 3-0 last weekend, but still started key players such as his two compatriots, Cristiano Ronaldo and Otavio, as well as Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Sultan Al Ghannam.

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