Al-Nassr have defeated Al-Ittihad 5-2 away from home in a thrilling derby in the Saudi Pro League’s 18th round.
The Riyadh giants picked up a 3-1 victory over Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq last week to extend their winning run to three games.
Luis Castro’s side entered the game with some momentum on their side unlike Al-Ittihad, who recently crashed out of the Club World Cup in the quarter-finals despite playing on home soil.
Despite Al-Nassr’s red-hot form, it was the hosts who took a surprising breakthrough from Abderrazak Hamdallah’s sublime solo effort against the run of play.
The lead did not last for long however with Cristiano Ronaldo bringing back the score on level terms from the spot after 18 minutes.
The Portuguese almost scored his second three minutes later as he was through on goal but his shot rattled the bar.
Anderson Talisca then got on the scoresheet with a delightful finish before the end of the first half to give Al-Nassr the advantage heading into the break.
The start of the second half saw Al-Ittihad grab the equaliser from a set piece with Hamdallah getting on the end of it to restore parity.
Despite that, Al-Nassr continued to fight back and their work paid dividends when the game took a huge turn in the 66th minute.
Former Liverpool midfielder Fabinho received his second caution of the night after conceding another penalty for a foul on Otavio inside the box as spot-kick expert Ronaldo converted successfully again to restore the lead.
With Al-Ittihad throwing bodies forward, Al-Nassr relied on quick counter-attacks to put the game to bed and they did just that with Sadio Mane grabbing a late double to secure the win.