Cristiano Ronaldo is still waiting for his first domestic trophy in Saudi Arabia after Al Nassr lost 4-1 to Al Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup on Saturday.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner scored the opening goal just before half-time in the season’s curtain-raiser between Saudi Pro League champions Al Hilal and runners-up Al Nassr.
However, the 39 year-old forward then cut a frustrated figure after Al Hilal netted four times in a 17-minute span in the second half,
Ronaldo, who joined Al Nassr in December 2022 and set a league record last season with 35 goals, scored from close range in the 44th minute after being teed up by Abdulrahman Ghareeb.
But it was all one-way traffic in the second half as Al Hilal’s Serbian duo made the difference. Midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic struck first, 10 minutes after the restart, after exchanging passes with Aleksandar Mitrovic and firing a powerful shot into Al Nassr’s net.
Al Hilal took the lead eight minutes later when Mitrovic rose to meet a perfect cross from Rúben Neves and headed the ball in from close range.
The former Fulham striker then extended Al Hilal’s lead when he received a pass from Brazilian Malcom in the 69th minute and fired the ball straight into the net.
Malcom scored Al Hilal’s fourth goal three minutes later when he took advantage of Al Nassr goalkeeper Bento’s error in controlling the ball after a pass from Aymeric Laporte to fire it home with ease.
“We showed how good we are in the second half,” Mitrovic said. “We had some problems in the first half and then changed in the second. We stayed calm and it feels good to get a trophy at the start of the season.”
Al Hilal won the Super Cup for the second time in a row and the fifth time in their history and remain the most successful team in the competition, three titles ahead of Al Nassr.
It was a familiar story for Ronaldo and Al Nassr, who were beaten to the Saudi King’s Cup as well as the Saudi Pro League title by Al Hilal last season.
The new Saudi Pro League season will begin on Thursday, when Al Nassr host Al Raed.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
