Ronaldo hattrick kick starts Al-Nassr’s season

RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo kick-started Al-Nassr’s season on Saturday with a hattrick and an assist in a much-needed 5-0 win at Al-Fateh with Sadio Mane also bagging a brace. After two defeats in the first two games of the Roshn Saudi League season, the pressure was on the Yellows and new coach Luis Castro but the five-time Ballon D’Or winner and his team-mates stepped up in style.

With zero points and one goal so far, this was a very different performance from the nine-time Saudi Arabian champions against a team that had collected four points from the opening two games and it suggested that there is much more to come. At times the football going forward was sublime and the equal of anything on display anywhere this weekend. 

It may only be the first league win of the season but things are now looking up for the Riyadh giants. On Tuesday they came within two minutes of being eliminated from the Asian Champions League by Shabab Al-Ahli before three goals in the closing moments gave them a 4-2 win and a place in the group stage of the continental competition.

Even so, a third successive league defeat would really have put Castro under the microscope, an international one given the global interest in Saudi Arabian football these days. With rivals Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli all winning the first three games of the season, another loss would have seen Al-Nassr nine points off the pace with the season just starting and would have resulted in plenty of questions asked.

Al-Nassr meant business from the first whistle with Ronaldo causing all sorts of problems and going close. The Portuguese star played a crucial role in the opening goal that came after 27 minutes. It was a move that suggested that the attacking talent