Cristiano Ronaldo has ended a 270-minute wait for his first Al Nassr goal. He scored his first ever goal for Al Nassr by converting a late penalty kick in Friday's Saudi Pro League game against Al Fateh. The goal arrived in second-half stoppage time at Al Fateh's Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Sports City Stadium. This was Ronaldo's third game for Al Nassr. Ronaldo had made his Saudi Pro League debut in a 1-0 win over Ettifaq on January 22. Four days later he tasted his first defeat with Al Nassr when they exited the Saudi Super Cup with a 3-1 semi-final loss to eventual champions Al-Ittihad. Ronaldo also played in an exhibition game for a Saudi XI in a 5-4 loss to PSG on January 19. He scored twice in that match. Ronaldo's late penalty on Friday earned Al Nassr a 2-2 draw after they had trailed twice. Al Nassr fell behind in the 12th minute when former Barcelona winger Cristian Tello volleyed home superbly from outside the penalty area. Ronaldo momentarily thought he had equalized midway through the first half when he produced a clean finish to beat the keeper one-on-one. But Ronaldo was flagged for offside, a decision that was confirmed by a VAR review. Ronaldo's finishing was far from clean in the 35th minute when he fired high and wide from a rebound attempt after teammate Talisca had hit the post. Talisca then drew Al Nassr level on 42 minutes with his 13th Saudi Pro League goal of the season, strengthening his position as the competition's leading scorer. The Brazilian beat the Al Fateh keeper with a low strike from 17 yards after being picked out by overlapping left-back Ghislain Konan. Ronaldo missed another big chance just before half time when he rattled a powerful effort off the crossbar with his left foot. Al Fateh retook the lead with another spectacular strike just before the hour-mark when Sofiane Bendebka nailed a side-footed volley. Al Nassr were seemingly heading towards a second consecutive loss for the first time since October 2021. But Ronaldo's penalty rescued them. There was more drama to come as Talisca was sent off for an ugly foul in the fifth minute of added time. — Agencies
