RIYADH: The energy at Al-Awwal Park on Wednesday night was palpable. After all, an encounter between Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli rarely disappoints; four of their last six meetings have produced four goals or more.
But with the stakes as high as they were for both clubs at this late stage of the season, it was perhaps no surprise that it took 75 minutes to produce the first goal of the game.
Ultimately, Al-Nassr rallied to a 2-0 home victory, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Kingsley Coman in the final quarter of an hour securing their 26th win of the season.
Both teams came into the game knowing that victory would significantly boost their title hopes: A win for the hosts would effectively eliminate Al-Ahli from the title race, while a victory for the visitors might have cut the gap to just 4 points, assuming they win their game in hand.
With so much for both sides to play for, then, the atmosphere was deafening in Riyadh. However, it did not translate into the goalsfest Pro League fans have come to expect from the fixture; before the opener, the teams managed only seven shots between them.
Al-Nassr undoubtedly held the advantage on the night, knowing that a draw would be enough to protect their lead at the top of the table. Al-Ahli, on the other hand, had little option other than to push for the victory.
Yet Matthias Jaissle’s side, fresh off a second-consecutive AFC Champions League title triumph, looked a shadow of the dominant, attacking team that had tormented defenses across Asia.
The Greens focused on attempting to unsettle Al-Nassr on the ball with aggressive man-to-man pressing, and while they were successful in doing so for most of the match, this approach severely limited their own attacking threat.
Ivan Toney struggled to find any rhythm in the match, rarely getting the chance to test Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento. In fact, most of Al-Ahli’s attempts came from long-range efforts that drifted wide, aside from a header by Merih Demiral in the 13th minute that forced Bento into his only save of the night.
The league leaders did not fare much better for most of the match. They endured one of their quietest attacking displays of the season, with not even the presence of newly appointed Saudi Arabia coach Giorgios Donis in the stands doing much to spark the players into action.
Yet when Al-Nassr needed a big moment on such a subdued night, there was perhaps only one man their fans might have believed could deliver it. And he duly obliged.
After a war of attrition that seemed destined to end in a goalless draw, reminiscent of Al-Ahli’s clash with Al-Hilal earlier this year, the Portuguese duo of Joao Felix and Ronaldo finally delivered the breakthrough that moved Al-Nassr one step closer toward their first league title since 2019. A perfectly delivered corner from the former found the latter, who powered a header into the far corner, sending the crowd wild.
Ronaldo is chasing his third-consecutive Saudi Pro League Golden Boot, and the goal increased his tally for the season to 25, just three behind of Al-Qadsiah’s Julian Quinones.
Al-Nassr added some additional gloss to the victory late on when a corner that was poorly cleared by Al-Ahli’s defense was launched back into the area and Coman fired a thunderous shot past Edouard Mendy in the 90th minute to send the home support into raptures.
The victory leaves Al-Nassr on 79 points with four games to play, eight points clear of Al-Hilal who have a game in hand. Next up for Al-Nassr is a clash on Sunday with one the toughest opponents in the league, fourth-place Al-Qadsiah.
Al-Ahli are now 13 points behind with five games to play, their hopes of a first league title in a decade all but over.
In the day’s other games, sixth-place Al-Ittihad secured an important 2-0 away win over Al-Taawoun in their pursuit of continental football next season. Al-Qadsiah, who have their eyes on third place and automatic qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite, moved to within a point of Al-Ahli thanks to a 4-0 victory over Al-Riyadh.
On Thursday, second-bottom Al-Okhdood host seventh-place Al-Ettifaq at 7 p.m., while Al-Kholood will be hoping to add some distance from the relegation zone when they take on visitors Al-Fayha at 9 p.m.
