Saudi Professional League leaders Al-Nassr suffered their first league defeat of the season as they fell to a 3-2 loss by the hands of Al-Ahli in Jeddah on Friday.
England and former Brentford striker Ivan Toney scored a brace to provide the hosts an early two-goal cushion earlier than Abdulelah Al-Amri bagged himself a brace to carry the rating degree earlier than half-time.
Merih Demiral then headed in what proved to be the winner shortly after the break in a recreation that noticed each groups lowered to 10 gamers late on, as Al-Ahli held on for all three factors and strengthen their grip on the fourth-placed spot.
For Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr, in the meantime, they continue to be high however the consequence opens the door for second-placed Al-Hilal to leapfrog them within the desk with victory over strugglers Damac on Sunday.
Toney offers hosts good begin however Al-Nassr hit again
It was almost the right begin for the hosts, who have been with out a number of key gamers as a consequence of AFCON. Inside the primary minute of the match, Toney skipped spherical Saad Al-Nasser earlier than sliding in Galeno.
Nawaf Al-Aqidi within the Al-Nassr purpose saved the preliminary effort after which Matheus Goncalves’ follow-up drive rattled the crossbar.
The league leaders have been lucky to flee unscathed. However the Al-Ahli early onslaught confirmed little signal of wavering. Simply over 5 minutes later, it paid off when Galeno returned the favour with a low ball throughout the field in the direction of the ft of Toney.
The ex-Brentford synthetic no mistake from six yards, firing in to provide the hosts a deserved lead.
Ali Majrashi then squandered one other superb likelihood earlier than Toney doubled his and Al-Ahli’s tally when he latched on to a ball excessive earlier than ending confidently.
Al-Nassr have been gifted a lifeline within the thirty first minute when Amri’s tame long-distance effort went via the legs of Abdulrahman Al-Sanbi to halve the deficit in embarrassing trend for the Al-Ahli stopper.
The guests abruptly sniffed a method again into the sport and drew degree on the stroke of half-time courtesy of Al-Amri’s header from Marcelo Brozovic’s outswinging nook.
In a frantic finish to the opening 45 minutes, Toney then had an opportunity to seize a hat-trick in added time however his end, from an nearly equivalent place to the primary purpose, struck the flawed facet of the submit.
Al-Ahli edge end-to-end second interval
The second half picked up the place the primary left off. Lower than 10 minutes after the break, Al-Ahli obtained themselves again in entrance when Toney’s contact again throughout purpose from a Goncalves free-kick was nodded house by Demiral.
Ronaldo wasted a terrific alternative simply after the hour mark when his contact from Joao Felix’s pinpoint cross let him down within the field as Al-Nassr once more went searching for an equaliser.
A deflected Joao Felix effort rippled the facet netting late on however the guests couldn’t discover a approach to protect their unbeaten run.
Tempers flared in stoppage time, with Majrashi given his marching orders for a slap on Joao Felix earlier than Nawaf Boushal noticed purple for a foul because the final man.
