Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring as Al-Nassr defeated Ettifaq 3-0 and gave Stefano Pioli victory in his first game as coach of the Saudi Arabian club on Friday. (More Football News)
♔The Italian, who led AC Milan to the Serie A title in 2022, was appointed on Wednesday to succeed Luis Castro. The Portuguese coach was dismissed the previous day due to Al-Nassr's slow start to the season with just one win in three Saudi Pro League games.
Ronaldo, who missed Al-Nassr's 1-1 draw in the AFC Champions League ✨Elite with Al-Shorta of Iraq on Monday due to a viral infection, fired home from the penalty spot after 33 minutes for his third goal of the season.
⭕In the second half, Salem Al-Najdi and Anderson Talisca added to the scoreline.
♐The defeat was the first this season for Ettifaq but the team coached by Steven Gerrard stayed third. Al-Nassr moved to fourth.
🍒Al-Ahli was in fifth after two goals from Ivan Toney helped the Jeddah club beat Damac 4-2.
๊Toney, signed from English Premier League club Brentford in August, made the opener for Gabri Veiga before scoring his first goals since the move to Saudi.
🐬Former Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino scored the other.
💯 Cristiano Ronaldo's new celebration was dedicated to his son Cristiano Jr, who had scored a brace for Al-Nassr’s youth team. The senior team skipper symbolised their hat-trick on the same day by holding up three fingers, pointing towards his son.
Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad are first and second in the standings and meet on Saturday.
