Cristiano Ronaldo scores from the spot while Sadio Mane seals the deal with a brace as Al Nassr beats Al Orobah in a Saudi Pro League game

 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane dazzled as Al-Nassr beat Al-Orobah to maintain their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season. 

Al-Nassr beat Al-Orobah 3-0

Ronaldo scored from the spot and bagged an assist

Yet Mane stole the spotlight with two well-taken goals 

It was expected that it would be a long 90 minutes at Al-Awwal Park for newly-promoted Al-Orobah against the star-studded Knights of Najd and it indeed followed the script. Although the visitors gave their all, the efforts were not enough to stop the title contenders from cruising to a comfortable 3-0 victory on Saturday evening.

Alvaro Pacheco's men defended resolutely for the first 15 minutes but a handball from Jean Michael Seri allowed Ronaldo to try his luck from 12 yards and the Portuguese talisman made no mistake to put his team in front after sending the keeper the wrong way. The 39-year-old continued to be in the thick of things as he turned provider to Mane just before the half-hour mark, who found the net from a tight angle to score his first league goal of the season. 

Al-Nassr continued to be dominant after the break until a false alarm put them in a spot of bother. In the 64th minute, Al-Orobah thought they had earned a spot-kick when the referee booked Aymeric Laporte for a high boot on Emmanuel Boateng inside the penalty box. However, Al-Orobah's hopes soon went up in smoke when VAR intervened after replays showed that the defender got the ball instead of Boateng's head.

Al-Nassr continued to probe and eventually got their third in the 71st minute as Mane completed his brace. It was a patient build-up and Abdullah Al-Khaibari picked out the unmarked Senegal international with an inch-perfect cross who found the net with a sleek first-time finish. Eight minutes from regulation time, Stefano Pioli hooked off Ronaldo, Mane and Marcelo Brozovic to a rousing applause from the home crowd as it was a job well done! 

Mane was undoubtedly the star of the show as he showed glimpses of his early Liverpool form that have mostly been missing since he moved to the Middle East. His darting runs on the left flank and the clinical finishes were too hot to handle for Al-Orobah as the 32-year-old showed that he still has enough fire in his belly to shine at the highest stage.

Al-Orobah coach Alvaro Pacheco tried to fight fire with fire and in the process got charred against a formidable Al-Nassr side. They failed to maintain their defensive shape when the opposition pressed with the ball and left acres of space behind when Al-Nassr counter-attacked. The Portuguese manager rang in the changes after the third goal but their fate had already been sealed. 

After registering a convincing victory over Al-Orobah, Ronaldo will now fly to Lisbon to join his Portugal teammates for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Poland & Scotland. Upon completing his international assignments, he will return to action with Al-Nassr against Al-Shabab on October 18 in their next Saudi Pro League fixture.