After the 2-1 victory over Al-Abha in the middle of the week, Al-Nassr continues to aim to win all 3 points to maintain the championship defense race. Attention is once again directed towards Cristiano Ronaldo, who is approaching the milestone of 1,000 goals in his career.
Al-Nassr actively controlled the game from the beginning, but faced many difficulties against Al-Khaleej's well-organized defense. The home team actively retreated deep and waited for counter-attack opportunities, making Ronaldo and his teammates not have much space to deploy attacks.
When the first half was about to close, Al-Khaleej suddenly took the lead. From a set piece situation, Omar Mascarell took advantage of the space in the far post area and headed the ball into Al-Nassr's net in the 45+1 minute.
Conceding a goal, Al-Nassr accelerated in the 2nd half. The visiting team's attack continuously put pressure, but Ronaldo was still closely marked by the Al-Khaleej defense and could not make a difference.
Coach Ange Postecoglou's adjustments were then effective. Just about 2 minutes after being put on the field, Abdullah Al-Hamdan scored the equalizer for Al-Nassr in the 72nd minute. This striker received the ball after Inigo Martinez's handling before launching a right-footed shot into the top corner of the goal.
In the final minutes, Al-Nassr pushed up the squad to find the decisive goal. Joao Felix had a chance but the shot was blocked by defender Al-Khaleej. The away team also offered to be awarded a penalty after a handball situation in the penalty area, but the referee did not change his decision.
Al-Khaleej stood firm for the remaining time to maintain a 1-1 draw.
Winning only 1 point makes Al-Nassr continue to be disadvantaged in the championship race. Ronaldo's team is currently 2 points behind Al-Hilal and 1 point behind Al-Ittihad. Ronaldo personally has not yet been able to get closer to the milestone of 1,000 goals when stopping at 979 goals in his career.
