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Ronaldo misses last match of the season as Al-Nassr finish second in Saudi League

June 01, 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo picked up a muscle injury during Al-Nassr’s match against Ettifaq last Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo picked up a muscle injury during Al-Nassr’s match against Ettifaq last Saturday.

Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH
— Portuguese football legend Cristiano Ronaldo’s first season in Saudi Arabia came to an end on Wednesday, with the star striker missing the last match of his club Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League tournament. Ronaldo picked up a muscle injury during Al-Nassr’s match against Ettifaq last Saturday.

Al-Nassr defeated Al-Fateh 3-0 in the match held in Riyadh, and thus finishing in second place in the league with 67 points. In the absence of Ronaldo, Anderson Talisca took center stage to score two goals while the third goal for Al-Nassr was from the boot of Mohammed Marwan. Talisca scored the first goal in the fifth minute, before adding the second goal in the 66th minute, while Marwan scored in the 72nd minute.

Al-Hilal, who ended up third in the league, defeated Al-Raed 3-2 in the last match of the tournament. With this defeat, Al-Raed finished the season in tenth place with 34 points. Al-Hilal scored two goals in the first half through Musab Al-Juwair in the 17th minute and Muhammad Al-Qahtani in the 36th minute, while Abdullah Atif added the third goal from a penalty kick in the 80th minute.

In the last minute of the second half, Rakan Al-Dosari scored the first goal for Al-Raed, while Pablo Santos scored the second goal in the fifth minute of the injury time.

Al-Ittihad emerged champions of the Saudi Pro League with 72 points, followed by Al-Nassr with 67 points, and Al-Hilal with 59 points. Behind them were Al-Shabab in fourth place with 56 points.

Al-Hilal dominated the Saudi Pro League championship in its previous three seasons. They were crowned champions consecutively in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Al-Adalah were relegated to the First Division League with 28 points after losing to guests Ettifaq 0-2 on Wednesday. Al-Adalah will be accompanied by the last-placed Al-Batin, whose relegation was confirmed in the previous rounds of the competition. In the rest of the last round of matches, Al-Feiha defeated Al-Wehda 1-0, Al-Shabab defeated Dhamac 4-1, and Al-Taawon defeated Al-Batin 3-1.


June 01, 2023
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