In the 118th minute, Al Nassr received a free kick. Cristiano Ronaldo ran in to catch the ball from his teammate and was pulled down by midfielder Juma Hassan. The referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot. From 11 meters away, CR7 made no mistake to increase the score to 4-3 for Al Nassr.
The total score after two matches is 4-4 (Al Ain won 1-0 in the first leg). The two teams must decide the winner or loser by a penalty shootout. Coach Luis Castro trusts in giving tasks to foreign soldiers. However, Marcelo Brozovic, Alex Telles and Otavio all failed, only Ronaldo scored successfully. In the end, the host received defeat with a score of 1-3.
Ronaldo and his teammates failed in the two most important arenas. In the Saudi Pro League, they are 12 points behind Al Hilal and have almost no chance of winning the championship. As for Al Ain, the club entered the AFC Champions League semi-finals after 8 years of waiting.
As for Al Nassr, they can only blame themselves. In the first half, the home team defended loosely and had to concede 2 goals, both after a breakthrough and cool finish by striker Soufiane Rahimi.
At the end of the first half, Al Nassr created a clear coordination situation. Sadio Mane tricked the away team’s goalkeeper into leaving the goal, before passing to Abdulrahman Ghareeb who scored from close range, shortening the score to 1-2.
In the second half, Al Nassr transformed and created suffocating pressure on Al Ain’s field. At minute 52, the score was equalized 2-2. Otavio stretched uncomfortably, causing goalkeeper Eisa to score an own goal. By the 72nd minute, the KSU stadium erupted in emotion, when Eisa continued to make a mistake, giving the home team a goal to increase the score to 3-2, after a free kick from Alex Telles on the right wing.
His teammates did everything they could, but Ronaldo was too ungrateful. In the 60th minute, goalkeeper Eisa made a mistake and let the ball slip out of his hand. From less than 2 meters away, CR7 kicked the ball out again. Before that, the superstar born in 1985 also had a shot that hit the bar.
With a total score of 3-3 after two matches, Al Nassr and Al Ain had to settle the win or loss with extra time. In the 98th minute, the home owner was at a disadvantage. Ayman Yahya was sent off for a red card. Difficulties piled up for the Saudi Pro League representative in the 103rd minute, when goalkeeper Raghed Al Najjar made a silly mistake leading to a goal.
After a series of missed opportunities, Ronaldo redeemed himself with a successful penalty kick in the 117th minute. However, that was not enough to help the host overcome the opponent from the UAE.
