Christiano Ronaldo opens Al Nassr goal account in Al-Fateh draw

Christiano Ronaldo has opened his goal-scoring account in Saudi Arabia after scoring a stoppage time penalty against Al-Fateh on Friday. This was his first in three appearances for the Saudi league leaders since his January switch.

Al-Fateh took the lead after 12 minutes when Cristian Tello took advantage of a weak clearance by Agustín Rossi.

However, Brazilian hitman was on hand to pull parity for the league leaders with three minutes before the half-time break.

Al-Fateh restored their lead in the second half through Sofiane Bendebka who got the one goal cushion for the home side just before the hour mark.

As Al Nassr looked set to drop full points with time running out, they were awarded a penalty in stoppage time. Ronaldo made no mistakes from the box as he powered his kick beyond the rick of Jacob Rinne to level for Al Nassr.

The result means the Knights of Najd remain top of the table with equal number of points as second placed Al-Shabab who have played one game more.

Al Nassr will prepare for their next outing against Al-Wehda on Thursday without the league’s leading scorer, Anderson Talisca. The Brazilian was sent off late into stoppage time for a poor challenge.

Ronaldo who has not hit the ground running with goals since his sensational transfer to the club in January will be hoping to keep his scoring boots near him when he leads the team out on Thursday. He missed a number of sitters today against Al-Fateh but would be hoping to start offering great returns from such opportunities in subsequent games.