Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Al-Nassr to a 4-3 victory over Qatar’s Al-Duhail in the AFC Champions League group stages.
Having scored the winner for Al-Nassr in the weekend against Damac, Ronaldo was back amongst the goals in the Champions League.
The Riyadh giants were looking to cement their place at the top of Group E in the competition and they did just that with a win over Al-Duahil on Tuesday evening.
Despite a slow start in the opening minutes, Anderson Talisca fired Al-Nassr into the lead in the 25th minute after a sublime combination play with Ronaldo.
However, Al-Duhail quickly responded and nearly found the equaliser on multiple occasions with former Liverpool man Philippe Coutinho hitting the post after the break.
Just seconds later, Sadio Mane doubled Al-Nassr’s advantage against the run of play after pouncing on a loose ball inside the box to net his first-ever goal in the Asian Champions League.
With a two-goal cushion, the home side continued dominating and found their third of the night through a sumptuous strike from Ronaldo.
The 38-year-old received the ball at the edge of the box and rifled a thunderous shot with his weaker left foot from distance to add another goal to his tally this season.
As the game looked done and dusted for the Riyadh giants, Al-Duhail scored two quickfire goals out of the blue to get back in the tie.
But in the 80th minute, Al-Nassr’s Sultan Al-Ghannam found Ronaldo in space with a precise long ball as the Portuguese took a first-time hit and found the net for his second and his side’s fourth.
Al-Duhail’s resilience was still on display as they reduced the deficit with five minutes left to play to try and salvage a point.
Al-Nassr managed to hold on to their narrow lead in the end as the Saudi side extended their lead to nine points at the top of their group.