Cristiano Ronaldo’s second-half penalty kick sent Al-Nasser into the final of the Arab Football Club Championship after they beat Iraq Police 1-0 in today’s semi-final. The final of the tournament will be purely Saudi, where victory awaits the winner of the clash between the local league champion’s runner-up, Al-Hilal and Al-Shabaab.
Ronaldo scored the only goal of the tournament in the 75th minute with a penalty kick from Senegal’s Sadio Mane, taking the Portugal captain’s tally to four. . Al-Nasr started the match strongly and Ronaldo and Mane threatened the police goal in the first ten minutes, with two shots going past goalkeeper Ahmed Basil.
An automatic penetration technique denied Ronaldo a goal in the 31st minute. Three minutes later, Brazil’s Alex Telles deflected a shot from Al-Nasr player off the crossbar. Ronaldo hit the crossbar at the end of the first half. Police’s defensive progress continued after the break and did not threaten goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi.
Ronaldo gave the winner six minutes into the second half after receiving a low pass from Sultan Al-Khanam, but he had a weak shot saved by Basil. Inside the penalty area 20 minutes before the end.
The video referee awarded a penalty kick to Al-Nasser after Faisal Jassim blocked the Senegal striker. Ronaldo successfully converted Basile’s left-footed kick that went for another corner.
The video assistant referee intervened minutes before the end, but the stadium referee ruled that there was no foul on policeman Ahmed Yahya towards the bell in the penalty area. And Basil saved Ronaldo’s header from close range two minutes before the end. Immediately afterwards, Ahmed Farhan scored the winning goal in Al-Shorda’s first chance, but Al-Aqeedee made a brilliant save.
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