Ronaldo went off — and Al-Nassr pulled off a wild comeback! Who was the hero?
Al-Nassr found their most unlikely hero on a night when almost everything went wrong.
Details: Ange Postecoglou's side produced a stunning comeback to beat Al-Ettifaq 3-2 away from home. Al-Nassr trailed by two goals, played with ten men after Bento's early dismissal, while Cristiano Ronaldo was taken off at half-time in what was reported as a technical decision.
The visitors were put in an extremely difficult position as early as the 12th minute. Goalkeeper Bento rushed outside his penalty area and brought down Moussa Dembélé, leaving the referee with little choice but to show him a straight red card. Al-Ettifaq capitalized on their numerical advantage, with Ondrej Duda opening the scoring before Álvaro Medrán doubled the lead late in the first half.
Ronaldo did not return after the break, but Al-Nassr refused to surrender. Sadio Mané initially thought he had scored in the 53rd minute, only for the goal to be ruled out after a VAR review because Kingsley Coman had been offside at the beginning of the move.
Mané finally pulled one back in the 74th minute after combining with João Félix. Abdulelah Al-Amri then equalized shortly afterwards, completely changing the mood of the contest despite Al-Nassr still playing with ten men.
The Senegalese winger saved his biggest contribution for the closing stages, striking again to complete his brace and an extraordinary 3-2 comeback. It is worth noting that Transfermarkt currently values the 34-year-old Mané at €6 million.
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Steven Perez
Dailysports's expert
