Al-Nassr 3-1 Al-Okhdood: Ronaldo and Mane inspire comeback triumph

Sadio Mane scored twice to seal a much-needed victory for Al-Nassr, as they came from a goal down to beat Al-Okhdood 3-1 at Al-Awwal Park on Thursday.

After defeat to league leaders Al-Ittihad in their last Saudi Pro League encounter, Al-Nassr responded with a dominant display to move up to third in the standings.

Al-Okhdood took a surprise lead in the sixth minute when Christian Bassogog’s cross was poorly dealt with, allowing Saviour Godwin to prod the ball home from close range.

Mane restored parity soon after when Sultan Al Ghannam saw his header brilliantly saved by Paulo Vitor, only for the Senegalese to slide the ball home on the line.

The hosts went in front four minutes before the break when Damion Lowe fouled Mane in the box, with Cristiano Ronaldo stepping up to convert the spot-kick.

Al-Nassr continued to dominate after the interval but were unable to grab the third goal, with Otavio, Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Angelo unable to test visiting goalkeeper Vitor.

But their perseverance prevailed late on when Al Ghannam’s pinpoint delivery was headed into the bottom right corner by Mane for his fifth league goal of the season.

Data Debrief: Back on track

Going into Thursday’s encounter, Al-Nassr had lost two of their last three Pro League matches, the same number of losses as in their previous 42 matches in the competition, but they got their title charge back on track with an impressive win.

They ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.65 from their 14 efforts, while also restricting their opponents to a measly 0.33 xG from their seven attempts.

Ronaldo has now scored four goals in three matches against Al-Okhdood in the Pro League (two at home and one away), netting in his first three matches against a single opponent in the competition for a fourth time (after Al-Fateh, Al-Wehd and Al-Shabab).