Al-Nassr have qualified for the AFC Champions League after a 4-2 win against Shabab Al-Ahli, this is despite being 2-1 down with nine minutes to play.
Anderson Talisca gave the Saudi side the lead before Yahya Al-Ghassani scored twice and looked set to dump the Saudi side out of the competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo was struggling to get involved in the game and with nine minutes to play it certainly looked like this would be a third defeat in a row for the Saudi side.
However, in extraordinary circumstances, Al-Nassr scored three goals without reply as the Saudi side qualified for the group stage of the elite Asian competition.
Sultan Al-Ghannam equalised with two minutes left to play before Talisca scored in the 95th minute and Marcelo Brozovic, the midfield signing from Inter Milan, sealed the win and sealed qualification.
Anderson Talisca was crucial to the win for the Saudi side despite the rumours persisting over his future.
Talisca’s future
There was a report from Spanish outlet SPORT which claimed that Al-Nassr may well have to terminate the contract of one of their players due to a rule about too many players from Asia in their squad.
After the Saudi’s extravagant spending, they have too many players not from Asia.
Talisca looked set to be the one that would be sacrificed but as the midfielder has scored 20 goals in back-to-back seasons, it would seem harsh that the former Besiktas man would be the fall guy for the Saudi side’s newest signings.
The midfielder should be one of the first names on the team sheet, simply due to his high goalscoring output. Talisca often steps up when others around him fail to perform.
Ronaldo struggled to get involved but the Saudi side have proven that they can compete without the Portuguese forward and have goals coming from all around the squad.