Sadio Mane and Cristiano Ronaldo have been on course as Al-Nassr struck an early blow within the Saudi Professional League title race with a deserved 2-0 win at Al-Ittihad.
Defending champions Al-Ittihad beat Al-Nassr house and away final season and acquired the higher of Al-Nassr within the Saudi Tremendous Cup remaining.
Karim Benzema returned to the Al-Ittihad facet after lacking three matches resulting from damage, however he couldn’t encourage the hosts to victory in Jeddah.
As a substitute it was former Actual Madrid team-mate Ronaldo was left celebrating after he adopted up Mane’s gorgeous ninth-minute opener with a Thirty fifth-minute header to ship Al-Nassr high of the desk.
Al-Ittihad v Al-Nassr
Amid a raucous ambiance, the sport started in frantic trend, with each side failing to take advantage of promising openings.
However Mane took his first clear-cut likelihood in spectacular trend, sustaining his composure to lash house an outstanding volley from Kingsley Coman’s right-wing cross.
Al-Nassr continued within the ascendancy after the opener, Ronaldo losing a gilt-edged likelihood when he headed large from shut vary earlier than then breaking free down the left, solely to fireside into the side-netting.
Paulo Bento was examined by Steven Bergwijn after an Al-Ittihad break, however the guests continued to create the higher alternatives, Joao Felix blazing over from point-blank vary from Pascal Simikan’s flick-on.
However Ronaldo made no mistake when Mane lifted a superbly weighted left-wing cross into the field, the Portugal talisman making no mistake with a strong header past a helpless Predrag Rajkovic.
Mane was nearly the supplier for a 3rd, however Felix was once more the supplier of a obtrusive miss after extra good work from his Senegalese team-mate.
Issues acquired worse for Al-Ittihad in first-half stoppage time, with midfielder Houssem Aouar pressured off by way of damage.
Ronaldo was denied by Rajkovic shortly after the second-half restart as Al-Nassr sought to place the sport to mattress, with Coman then blazing over on the far put up earlier than Ronaldo inexplicably missed the goal with an open purpose at his mercy.
But Al-Ittihad struggled to punish that profligacy, with Benzema slicing a peripheral determine till he was brilliantly thwarted by Bento following excellent work on the flip from the previous France striker.
And there was to be no approach by way of for the hosts, who comfortably noticed out a victory that might and possibly ought to have been extra emphatic.
