Ronaldo's frustration, Al-Nassr moves closer to Saudi Pro League title

(Football result) - Kingsley Coman's goal in the 31st minute was sufficient for Al-Nassr to beat Al-Ettifaq 1-0 in the Saudi Pro League fixture held early morning April 16.

This victory allows Al-Nassr to extend their lead to 8 points at the top of the table. Although Al-Hilal still has one match pending and could reduce the gap to 5 points, the convincing performance at Al-Awwal Park has brought Jorge Jesus's team closer to their first domestic title since the 2018/19 season.

Al-Nassr started proactively as Sadio Mane had an early dangerous opportunity but was blocked right on the goal line. In the 31st minute, the home team broke the deadlock when Coman finished close-range after a situation where Cristiano Ronaldo was denied by goalkeeper Marek Rodak.

Immediately after, Ronaldo again sent the ball hitting the crossbar. In the second half, Al-Ettifaq had chances to respond as Georginio Wijnaldum and Moussa Dembele successively attempted shots, but both were excellently saved by goalkeeper Bento.

Ronaldo continued to lack luck as once more he was blocked right on the goal line, while Joao Felix and Mane also missed regrettable opportunities. Despite wasting many good chances, Al-Nassr did not pay the price as Al-Ettifaq appeared lacking sharpness in attack.

The visiting team ended the match with 10 men after Jack Hendry received a red card in added time following a cold foul on Joao Felix.

Notable statistics

Coman's goal had an xG value up to 0.98 out of Al-Nassr's total 2.27 xG already in the first half, surpassing Al-Ettifaq's 1.0 xG for the entire match.

Despite not scoring, Ronaldo was still the player with the most shots in the match with 7 attempts, contributing 0.65 xG out of Al-Nassr's total 3.14 xG after 90 minutes.

With this win, Al-Nassr now needs only 2 more goals to reach the 1,000-goal milestone in the Saudi Pro League, thus nearing becoming the second team in the league's history to achieve this feat, after Al-Hilal (1,125 goals).