After an encouraging start to Stefano Pioli’s reign, Al-Nassr are once struggling to win matches. A late Anderson Talisca penalty saved their blushes against Al-Kholood last Friday but on Tuesday evening they were knocked out of the cup competition following a 1-0 defeat.
The first half was a snooze-fest with Ronaldo & Co. hardly able to pose any serious threat to the opposition goal. The Portuguese talisman tested the goalkeeper with a direct free-kick but Mailson dos Santos dived at the nick of time to keep it out. In fact, it were the hosts who got the better chances to score on the counter and if it was not for a last-ditch tackle from Mohamed Simakan in the final minutes of the opening half, Pioli’s men would have been chasing the game much earlier.
With his team struggling to create any significant scoring opportunities, Ronaldo was forced to drop deep and get more involved after the break. Although it did add some more teeth to attack, his efforts were not enough which forced Pioli to make a triple substitution after the hour mark as Otavio, Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Sultan Al-Ghannam were thrown into the mix. But the manager was left clutching his face with his hands after Al-Taawoun drew first blood from a corner as his defence was caught napping by Waleed Al-Ahmed. With time running out, Al-Nassr did show some urgency and were even lucky to earn a spot-kick deep into stoppage time, but Ronaldo fired his attempt over the crossbar which condemned the Knights of Najd to a disappointing loss.
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