Al Ittihad beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, Al Nassr, and sent them out of the Saudi Super Cup. It was a bad night for him.
Ronaldo again led the Knights of Najd in his second game for his new club after leaving Manchester United. But the superstar had trouble in the semi-final. After Romarinho put Al Ittihad ahead with a well-coordinated team move, he missed a great chance to tie the game.
Abderrazak Hamdallah gave Al Ittihad a two-goal lead. In the second half, Al-Nassr scored a goal to get back in the game. But Al Ittihad’s third goal from Muhannad Shanqeeti put an end to any chance of a comeback.
Here, AGN Football looks at the five most talked-about parts of the match.
Ronaldo still hasn’t won a trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t won a major trophy in two long years, when he won the Coppa Italia with Juventus. During his second time at Manchester United, he didn’t win any trophies, and to be honest, he never looked like he would.
But since Al-Nassr is one of the best teams in Saudi Arabia, the Portugal star would have hoped that he would have a better chance with his new team. But, at least for now, those hopes were snuffed out on Thursday night.
Al-Ittihad will now play Al-Feiha in the final of the Saudi Super Cup. Al-Ittihad will be favoured to win against Al-Feiha, who is having trouble in the Saudi Pro League. It means Ronaldo has lost another chance.
Penny dropping for Ronaldo
Even though this is only Ronaldo’s third game in Saudi Arabia, there are signs that he may be starting to realise that he made a mistake by joining Al-Nassr. Even though they had most of the ball early on, Al-first Ittihad’s goal was poorly defended.
And after his header was saved, Ronaldo must have been very upset to see the other team go right back up the other end and score again. As Al-Nassr fell behind, the team captain was often seen pointing at his teammates.
Many people thought Ronaldo would take the Saudi league by storm when he got there, but the 37-year-old will have to wait another game to score in a real game. He didn’t expect things to go like this when he moved to Al-Nassr.
Familiar face masterminds defeat
A lot of people were interested in this game because of Ronaldo, but Premier League fans also recognised another player. Nuno Espirito Santo, who has been in charge of Al Ittihad since July, was sent to do that.
At Tottenham, the Portuguese manager’s time in the Premier League came to a sad end. Since he left Spurs in November 2021, he hasn’t had a job since. The job in Saudi Arabia is his first job since then.
And he led his team to a famous win against Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, while Al Ittihad closed in on their league rivals. In reality, Santo’s team looked pretty good for most of the night, and they will move on to the final.
Garcia’s warning was right on the mark
Rudi Garcia, the coach of Al-Nassr, said after his team beat Ettifaq on Sunday that it would take time for Ronaldo to fit in with his new team. This warning came true again Thursday night, when Garcia’s team had trouble making chances for their star player.
The French coach even made three changes at halftime to try to get his team back on track, but it didn’t work. Instead, Garcia might need to go back to the drawing board as he looks for a way to get the most out of his captain.
Ronaldo fever continues
Saudi Arabians are still very interested in seeing one of the best football players in the world’s history. On Thursday night, there were a lot of people at the semi-final game at the King Fahd International Stadium.
Soon, it was clear that most people were there to cheer for Ronaldo. The Al-Nassr captain cheered loudly every time he got the ball. When Al-Nassr did a series of step-overs, the crowd cheered the loudest. When referee Danny Makkeile ruled against Al-Nassr, the crowd booed.
