«Al-Nassr» won another victory in the Saudi Arabian football championship. In a home match of the 21st round, the opponent of the Turkmen «Arkadag» in the AFC-2 Champions League beat the «Al-Ittihad» club from Jeddah – 2:0.
Both goals were scored at the end of the match. In the 83rd minute, Kingsley Coman crossed from the right to Ayman Yahya, whose shot hit the arm of defender Barnawi. The referee awarded a penalty, which two-time African champion Sadio Mane converted a minute later, shooting low and accurately into the left corner. Goalkeeper Rajkovic misjudged the direction of the shot and jumped in the wrong direction. The final point in the match was put in the 6th minute of stoppage time by Brazilian Gabriel Angelo, who sent the ball into the net between the legs of goalkeeper from 14 metres.
The leader of the Riyadh Cristiano Ronaldo missed his second game in a row due to dissatisfaction with the club and league management over the low level of government investment compared to sponsored rival clubs «Al-Hilal», «Al-Ittihad» and «Al-Ahli».
In the 7th minute of the match, fans from various stands raised banners with the name of Ronaldo and his number seven in the yellow and blue club colours. They also spent several minutes chanting «Si» - the word the five-time Ballon d'Or winner usually shouts when celebrating goals.
The Saudi Arabian football league has suffered serious financial losses due to the ongoing boycott of star forward of «Al-Nassr» in the local championship. According to the Speedline account, Fox Sports has terminated its partnership with the Saudi Arabian league. The monetary losses will amount to 2.4 billion dollars.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been playing for «Al Nassr» since January 2023. The current employment contract of the striker with the club expires at the end of June 2027. His transfer value is estimated at 12 million euros. In the current season of the Saudi Arabian Championship, Cristiano has played 18 matches, scoring 17 goals and making one assist.
Meanwhile, five-time UEFA Champions League winner Cristiano Ronaldo is living the dream of 1000 goals. To date, he has scored 961 goals, which is a record in world football. The Portuguese still has 39 goals left to score to reach his desired mark. Therefore, Turkmen football fans still have hope that the star forward will not refuse matches with «Arkadag» and will still fly to Ashgabat.
As a reminder, the first match of the AFC Champions League Round of 16 between «Arkadag» and «Al-Nassr» will take place on the 11th of February at the Olympic Stadium in Ashgabat. The return match will take place on the 18th of February in Riyadh.
