Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr suffered a major setback as they lost 2-1 to Al-Qadisiyah at the Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium in the ongoing Saudi Pro League (SPL). Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the winner for his team in the 87th minute, sealing the result. Al-Qadisiyah had taken an early lead in the 35th minute, courtesy of Turki Al-Ammar. Sadio Mane equalised in the 84th minute for Al-Nassr, but just three minutes later, Aubameyang netted the decisive goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo was expected to continue his goal-scoring form, but he had a disappointing outing. Despite trying his luck on several occasions, he neither scored a goal nor provided an assist. With this loss, Al-Nassr stayed third with 57 points from 28 games. Al-Hilal strengthened their second position with a 3-0 win over Al-Khaleej and now have 61 points from 28 matches. Al-Ittihad, despite a 2-0 loss to Al-Fateh, remain at the top with 65 points in 28 games.
“We should not have lost this match” – Al-Nassr coach, Stefano Pioli
After the defeat, Al-Nassr head coach Stefano Pioli admitted Al-Qadisiyah deserved the win, saying his team failed to make the most of their chances. During the post-match press conference, he said: “It was a tough match between the two teams, and Al-Qadisiyah deserved to win. I don’t see that we were bad; we played very well, but we do not underestimate the level of competition, its strength, and its value.”
“My focus is on winning, and that’s why I made the appropriate changes. I don’t see any weakness in the attacking line during the match. We did not capitalise on the opportunities we had, unlike Al-Qadisiyah, who took advantage of two chances and scored to achieve victory; our chances were not nonexistent,” he further added.
“We lost a very important match, and each match has its circumstances. Sometimes we lose due to bad luck, and sometimes we succeed, score, and win, and we realise the difficulty of the situation at the end of the season. We should not have lost this match; it was unexpected, but we must work to regain our form until the end of the season,” Pioli concluded.
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