RIYADH. Al Nassr had a surprising win over Al Khaleej with a 2-0 win with a goal from C. Ronaldo (26′) and a goal from A. Laporte (58′). Al Nassr was definitely better in terms of ball possession (71%) and that was among the factors of its victory.​

The match was played at the Mrsool Park stadium in Riyadh on Saturday and it started at 9:00 pm local time. The referee was Guillermo Enrique Guerrero Alcivar with the help of Juan Rafael Aguiar Ramos and Dennys Hector Guerrero Torres. The 4th official was Fareeh Al Jaloud. The weather was light rain. The temperature was hot at 28.95 degrees Celsius or 84.11 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 38%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

Al Nassr had a strong ball possession 71% while Al Khaleej was struggling with a 29% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

Al Nassr was more aggressive with 54 dangerous attacks and 8 shots of which 4 were on target. This is one of the reasons why Al Nassr won the match​.

Al Nassr shot 8 times, 4 on target, 1 off target. On the other side, Al Khaleej shot 11 times, 2 on target, 8 off target.

Cards

Al Nassr received 1 yellow card (Abdulrahman Ghareeb). On the other side, Al Khaleej received 2 yellow cards (Fábio Martins and Saeed Al Hamsal).

Standings

After this contest, Al Nassr will have 28 points to hold in the 2nd place. On the opposite side, Al Khaleej will stay with 10 points to hold in the 15th place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Pro League, Al Nassr will host Al Wahda on the 5th of May with a 16-7 head to head stats in favor of Al Nassr (5 draws).

Al Khaleej will host Al Wahda on the 8th of May with a 5-4 head to head in favor of Al Wahda (1 draw).

Al Nassr – Formation

Al Nassr adopted the 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

The manager Luís Manuel Ribeiro de Castro decided to play with the following team: Nawaf Al Aqidi (7.1), Abdullah Al Khaibari (6.7), Abdulelah Al Amri (7.1), Aymeric Laporte (8.1), Alex Telles (7.3), Marcelo Brozovic (7.5), Seko Fofana (7.3), Sadio Mané (6.1), Otávio (7.9), Abdulrahman Ghareeb (7.0) and Cristiano Ronaldo (8.9).

The home team had on the bench: Abdullah Madu, Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem (6.8), Khalid Al-Ghannam (6.8), Sami Al Naji, Ali Al-Hassan (7.3), Ayman Yahya, Mohammed Qasem, Meshari Fahad Al-Nemer and Raghed Najjar.

Al Nassr could not rely on the presence of Ali Al-Hassan (injured).

Substitutions

Al Nassr made 4 changes: Abdullah Al Khaibari for Ali Al-Hassan (45′), Abdulrahman Ghareeb for Ayman Yahya (86′), Seko Fofana for Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem (74′) and Sadio Mané for Khalid Al-Ghannam (85′).

Best player: Cristiano Ronaldo​

As per our analysis, the most impressive player for Al Nassr was Cristiano Ronaldo.

His rating is (8.9) with 1 goal, 31 passes (94% accurate) and 1 key pass. He was won 3 duels out of 6. He performed 3 crosses.

Al Khaleej – Formation

Also Al Khaleej adopted the 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

Pedro Emanuel dos Santos Martins Silva played with: Marwan Al Haidari (6.6), K. Narey (7.0), Saeed Al Hamsal (6.4), Mohammed Al Khabrani (6.4), L. López (7.1), Pedro Rebocho (7.0), Mansour Hamzi (6.8), Jung Woo-Young (7.1), Ivo Rodrigues (7.3), Fábio Martins (7.5) and Mohamed Sherif (5.8).

The following players were sitting on the bench: Khaled Al Sumairi, Abdullah Al Salem, Abdullah Al Shanqiti, Abdulelah (7.0), Raed Ozaybi, Arif Al-Haydar (6.7), Fawaz Al Terais, Bandar Nasser and Hamad Al Abdan (6.8).

Al Khaleej could not rely on the presence of Hamad Al Abdan (injured).

Substitutions

Al Khaleej made 4 changes: Mansour Hamzi for Abdulelah (64′), Jung Woo-Young for Hamad Al Abdan (77′), Saeed Al Hamsal for Arif Al-Haydar (77′) and Mohamed Sherif for Abdullah Al Salem (86′).

Best player: Fábio Martins​

The most impressive player for Al Khaleej was Fábio Martins.

His rating is (7.5) with 34 passes (88% accurate) and 3 key passes. He was won 7 duels out of 12. He performed 3 crosses.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Pro League.​

• Abha – Al Akhdoud – 3-2
• Al Nassr – Al Khaleej – 2-0
• Al Ittifaq – Al Raed – 0-0