Cristiano Ronaldo notched career goal number 965 and Inigo Martinez scored twice as Al-Nassr moved to the top of the Saudi Pro League with a 5-0 hammering of bottom side Al-Najmah tonight.
Ronaldo played for 56 minutes at the King Abdullah Sports City before making way with the game already won.
It was his penalty that sparked the rout with Kingsley Coman and Sadio Mane also getting on target.
Soft penalty hands Ronaldo the opener
Ronaldo’s quest to reach 1,000 goals won’t be achieved this season, even if he continues to receive gift-wrapped spot-kicks as he did tonight.
Home defender Abdullah Al-Hawsawi was adjudged to have fouled the Portuguese while back-pedalling to try to clear a right-wing cross. It was a farcical decision reached by referee Majed Al-Shamrani and the VAR but Ronaldo showed no mercy, firing the spot-kick into the bottom left-hand corner, giving home goalkeeper Victor Braga no chance.
Ronaldo goal opens the floodgates for Jorge Jesus’ side
Al-Nassr continued to dominate and it was no surprise when they doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark.
Marcelo Brozovic was the architect with a nice pass for Coman and the former Bayern Munich winger slotted home.
Braga had to go off due to injury but his replacement Waleed Al-Anzi was also picking the ball out of the back of the net soon after.
The overworked Al-Najmah defence could only partially clear a right-wing cross and Martinez siezed on the loose ball and fired in a shot that was too much for Al-Anzi to keep out.
Second half just as one-sided
It was 4-0 after 51 minutes with Ronaldo playing a key role. A sweeping move put Nawaf Bu Washl clear down the right and his low centre was controlled by the 41-year-old before he laid it off to Mane to fire into the top corner.
Martinez completed the scoring in a one-sided encounter, flicking Abdulrahman Ghareeb’s corner into the far corner.
