In the early morning of October 30, Al-Nassr hosted Al-Taawon in the 1/8 round of the Saudi Arabian King's Cup. Going into this match, Al-Nassr was rated higher with impressive form, having won 7 out of the last 8 matches.
In the first half, Al-Nassr had 8 shots on Al-Taawon's goal, but there were very few real dangerous opportunities. In the second half, Al-Taawon became sharper in their counter-attacks.
The turning point of the match came in the 71st minute, from a corner kick. Al-Taawon's center back Waleed Al-Ahmed jumped high and headed the ball accurately, opening the scoring against the home team.
This goal made the final minutes of the match tense. Al-Nassr pressed forward to find an equalizer. In the 90+6 minute, Mohammed Khalil Marran won a penalty for Al-Nassr. But from 11 meters away, Cristiano Ronaldo shot the ball over the bar. This was also the first time Ronaldo missed a penalty since playing in the Middle East.
Previously, the last time Ronaldo missed a penalty was in the round of 16 of EURO 2024, when his shot was blocked by Jan Oblak. Portugal still beat Slovenia on penalties and won a ticket to the quarterfinals.
The last time Ronaldo missed a penalty was when he was playing for Man United in the FA Cup match against Middlesbrough on February 4, 2022, with a low shot that went wide of the left corner.
With this defeat, Al-Nassr will have to quickly overcome the defeat to prepare for the confrontation with Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League in the next 3 days.
