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 deliver the rating degree earlier than half-time.
Merih Demiral then headed in what proved to be the winner shortly after the break in a sport that noticed each groups decreased 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 prime however the end result opens the door for second-placed Al-Hilal to leapfrog them within the desk with victory over strugglers Damac on Sunday.
Toney provides hosts good begin however Al-Nassr hit again
It was almost the proper 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 aim 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 artificial no mistake from six yards, firing in to provide the hosts a deserved lead.
Ali Majrashi then squandered one other wonderful 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 by way of the legs of Abdulrahman Al-Sanbi to halve the deficit in embarrassing trend for the Al-Ahli stopper.
The guests all of a sudden sniffed a means 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 virtually similar place to the primary aim, struck the improper aspect of the publish.
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 received themselves again in entrance when Toney’s contact again throughout aim from a Goncalves free-kick was nodded dwelling by Demiral.
Ronaldo wasted an incredible alternative simply after the hour mark when his contact from Joao Felix’s pinpoint go let him down within the field as Al-Nassr once more went searching for an equaliser.
A deflected Joao Felix effort rippled the aspect netting late on however the guests couldn’t discover a strategy 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.
