Al-Nassr in Saudi Pro League hole already with zero points after two games

Al-Nassr’s start to the Roshn Saudi League season went from bad to worse on Friday as they lost 2-0 to Al-Taawoun in front of their own fans in Riyadh.

Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates have now played two and lost two at the start of a campaign that promised so much. It is still early days, of course, but the title hopefuls could find themselves trailing rivals such as Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad by six points come Saturday evening. If the gap grows any larger, the pressure really will be on.

Last season’s runners-up slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Al-Ettifaq in their opening game on Monday, just two days after lifting the King Salman Club Cup. For game two, however, the stars were out in force. Not only did Ronaldo return to the squad after a minor injury but the home fans got their first look at Marcelo Brozovic, Seko Fofana and Sadio Mane, who was the only foreign star to play in their opening defeat.

The game started well enough. Ronaldo treated fans to his trademark stepovers and drew a diving save from Brazilian goalkeeper Mailson with a low shot from outside the area with just a few minutes on the clock. If the home fans were sitting back after that in anticipation of a comfortable victory, they were soon made to think again when the visitors from Buraidah took the lead.

Leandre Tawamba opened the scoring after 20 minutes. Somehow, the Cameroonian striker was left alone inside the six-yard box to meet a corner from Mateus and head home to put his team, who showed last season with their fifth-place finish that they can beat any opponent on their day, ahead.

It was not the only chance that Al-Taawoun had but most of the pressure was applied by the hosts. At the end of the half, Al-Nassr thought they had been given a