Cristiano Ronaldo scores another hat trick as Al-Nassr go two points clear

It is looking increasingly likely that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to shoot Al-Nassr to the Roshn Super League title as the Portuguese star scored his second hat trick in three games as the league leaders defeated Damac 3-0 away from home on Saturday.

The 38-year-old has netted eight times in his last four games and, more importantly, the Riyadh giants are two points clear of Al-Ittihad at the top of the table. Ronaldo, and the team, are starting to look very ominous indeed.

Anderson Talisca, top scorer in the league and at Al-Nassr, was suspended and then injured, but with the team’s new signing in such form, the Brazilian has been barely missed. And there’s more. Ronaldo is not that far behind his teammate in the goal scoring charts. After just six appearances (and he did not find the net in his first two games), Ronaldo is, incredibly, joint fourth. Only Talisca, Carlos of Al-Shabab and Al-Ittihad's Abderrazak Hamdallah have found the target more times.

Damac may have shown over the last two seasons that they are a force to be reckoned with but lost the game in the space of five first-half minutes. After 18 minutes, Ronaldo fired home from the penalty spot. Sami Al-Najei blasted the ball goalwards only for the shot to be blocked by Farouk Chafai.

That’s has to be our favorite moment pic.twitter.com/ahdq5B6C02

— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) February 25, 2023

There were mass appeals for handball and while the referee did not initially give it, a look at the replay left little doubt that the defender had used an arm and there was little surprise when, after consulting the pitch-side monitor, the official gave a penalty.

Ronaldo sent Moustapha Zeghba the wrong way but even had the Algerian guessed right, there would