Al-Nassr's aspirations of clinching the Saudi Professional League title were dealt a severe setback following a disappointing goalless draw against the struggling team Al-Feiha. Adding to the frustration, Cristiano Ronaldo expressed his anger as he left the pitch after a challenging performance on Sunday.
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| Image source in sportstar.thehindu.com |
Al-Nassr's aspirations of winning the Saudi Professional League took a major hit after a goalless draw against the underdog team Al-Feiha, leading to Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the pitch in frustration on Sunday.
Meanwhile, league
leaders Al-Ittihad capitalized on the opportunity and widened the gap to three
points with only seven matches remaining, securing a 2-1 victory against
Al-Wehda. Al-Ittihad also held an advantage in the head-to-head result against
Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo, who joined
Al-Nassr in January in a contract reportedly worth over 200 million euros ($218
million), missed a chance to score as his shot was saved by goalkeeper Vladimir
Stojkovic, who kissed the ball, in the 68th minute.
Stojkovic seemed to
have an uncanny control over the ball as Portugal captain Ronaldo missed two
shots over the bar within six minutes, while even the league's top scorer,
Brazilian Anderson Talisca, failed to make an impact.
Ronaldo left the pitch
visibly furious as his goal tally remained at 11 goals in 10 league games,
taking off the captain's armband and holding it in his hand.
Al-Nassr coach Rudi
Garcia expressed his dissatisfaction with both the performance and the result,
stating to the Saudi Sports Company (SSC) through a translator, "The
result is undoubtedly disappointing, and we are not happy."
"I am not
satisfied with the performance of the players. I had asked them to play at the
same level as the last game, the 5-0 victory against Al-Adalah, but that didn't
happen," expressed the coach of Al-Nassr.
Al-Nassr, who last won
the title in 2019, faces a crucial game against Al-Hilal, the defending
champion and currently fourth in the standings, next week, which could
potentially determine the outcome of the title race.
"With seven games
left, we will try to recover, although it won't be easy after dropping two
points. However, anything is possible," added the coach.
In a tweet, Al-Feiha
posted an edited image of their captain, Sami Al-Khaibari, sitting across from
Ronaldo at a chess table, reminiscent of a famous advertisement featuring rival
players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The image was captioned
"checkmate" and garnered over 1.9 million views, in contrast to the
fewer than 100,000 views for other posts on the page.
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