Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late overtime penalty to keep Al-Nassr‘s hopes in the AFC Champions League alive, but Al Ain got the upper hand in the shootout (1-3), as the Portuguese star was the only one one to score from the spot for his team.
Khalid Eisa denied Marcelo Brozovic in the first spot-kick of the series, whereas Alex Telles hit the crossbar before Otavio missed the goal. Al Ain, on the other hand, scored all three penalties they took and therefore progressed to the semifinals.
It wasn’t an easy night for Ronaldo, who missed a couple of golden chances to get on the scoresheet. He managed to come up with a heroic moment late in extra time and even scored his penalty in the shootout, but Al-Nassr still lost.
Al-Nassr force the extra time but lose on penalties
After losing 1-0 in the first leg last week, Al-Nassr returned to Al-Awwal Stadium forced to turn things around. But it didn’t start well, with Soufiane Rahimi putting the visitors in front 1-0 (2-0 on aggregate).
With help from Sadio Mane, Ghareeb capitalized on a terrible mistake at the oppostion’s back, making things level just before halftime. But Al Ain came back stronger from the break, as Rahimi restored their lead after 45′.
Al-Nassr never gave up though, and put themselves back on track as an own goal by Khalid Eisa (51′) paved the way for Alex Telles to put the home side in front. With a 3-2 lead in regular time and the scored tied 3-3 on aggregate, the match went to overtime.
Sultan Al-Shamsi once again put Al-Nassr’s back against the wall by scoring after 103′, but Ronaldo seized a penalty kick 15 minutes later to tie the aggregate score and force the penalties.
In the end, it was still a disappointing ending for the veteran striker’s team, but Cristiano finished the game on a high note considering how frustrating he looked with the missed opportunities at some point.
Ronaldo, Al-Nassr face tough scenario to finish the season with a title
Al-Nassr now face a challenging outlook to try and finish the season with a piece of silverware. Despite having the tournament’s top scorer in Ronaldo (22 goals), Luis Castro’s team is second in the Saudi Pro League standings with 53 points, 12 shy of leaders Al-Hilal.
Jorge Jesus’ side has been leading the league for months now and it seems to have no intention to slow down, as it has recently matched the world record for most consecutive wins (27 across all competitions).
While there are still 11 rounds left, Al-Nassr’s best chance of winning a trophy this season seems to be in the Saudi Super Cup. But they’ll have to take down Al-Hilal in the semifinal to challenge for the trophy.
