Al-Nassr have come back from behind to beat Damac 2-1 in the Saudi Pro League’s 10th round on Saturday evening.
With rivals Al-Hilal defeating Al-Khaleej 1-0 a day earlier, Al-Nassr knew only a win would do for them against Damac.
However, the Riyadh giants were handed a double blow as they lost two starting players in Sultan Al-Ghannam and Marcelo Brozovic.
The Croatian was ruled out with an injury he sustained with his country during the international break while right-back Al-Ghannam is serving his three-game suspension after receiving a red card two weeks ago.
Head coach Luis Castro restored summer-signing Seko Fofana to their lineup with Otavio, Anderson Talisca, and Cristiano Ronaldo leading the attack.
The game had an unlikely start Al-Nassr’s backline was exposed by Damac on the counter-attack but the latter lacked the precision needed in their finishing touch to score.
At the stroke of half-time, the visitors finally capitalised on Al-Nassr’s defensive frailties as former Tottenham winger Georges-Kévin N’Koudou slotted the ball past Raghed Al-Najjar to give Damac the lead.
It only took Al-Nassr seven minutes after the break to find the equaliser from a well-taken Talisca set-piece effort to bring back the score on level terms.
Four minutes later, the home side were awarded another free-kick in a promising position but this time it was Ronaldo who stepped up to take it.
The Portuguese unleashed a powerful strike from 30 yards that left Damac’s Moustapha Zeghba standing still between the posts to complete Al-Nassr’s comeback.
The victory maintained a four-point gap to leaders Al-Hilal as they now turn their attention to the AFC Champions League.
Al-Nassr are set to face Qatari outfit Al-Duhail in the third round of the competition’s group stages on Tuesday, October 24th.