Ronaldo and Al-Nassr’s title hopes suffer at Al-Fayha

Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr suffered a frustrating evening on Sunday as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Al-Fahya.

Going into this Roshn Saudi League clash, the Riyadh giants were a point behind leaders Al-Ittihad with eight games of the season remaining.

How tight things are at the top means that this is a result that will be warmly welcomed in Jeddah, and the sight of defender Abdulelah Al-Amri pounding the grass in frustration in added time at the end of the second half will also be remembered among Ittihad fans. For the supporters of Al-Nassr, it summed up the previous 90 minutes.

There were few chances in the early exchanges, although Al-Nassr’s Anderson Talisca had a claim for a handball after 13 minutes. Seven minutes later, however, Al-Fayha thought they had taken the lead. Aleksandar Trajkovski fired home an unstoppable shot from outside the area but the Macedonian star had been just offside when collecting the ball.

That close call seemed to spur the visitors on, and just before the half-hour Ayman Yahya headed just wide when it looked as if Al-Nassr was going to take the lead. They went even closer soon after as Vladimir Stojkovic pushed over a fierce effort from Abdullah Al-Khaibari. Just after the half-hour, Ronaldo twisted inside the area to send a half-volley just wide of the near post. The pressure came to nothing as the two teams went in at the break with the scoreline goalless.

Once the action resumed, both teams continued in their struggles to create meaningful openings. Al-Nassr also struggled to get Ronaldo into the game, although the Portuguese star twisted and turned outside the area around the halfway point of the second half to fire off a shot that went straight at the goalkeeper. Soon