Cristiano Ronaldo did his best to carry Al Nassr in the Riyadh derby but in the end.
He had little help from either his teammates or the officials as Al Hilal stormed to a 3-0 victory at King Fahd International Stadium on Friday.
Ronaldo had a goal ruled out for the slimmest of offside and saw a clear penalty not given, and Al Nassr had little else in front of goal.
On the other side, Al Hilal produced a host of glorious chances, all which went begging until Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s powerful header put them in front past the hour mark. That sent Al Hilal into a lead they would not relinquish, as Aleksandar Mitrovic picked up a pair of late goals in stoppage time and nearly had a delightful third, just missing an acrobatic overhead kick.
It was not without controversy, however, and could have ended very different had a pair of decisions not gone against Al Nassr. Ronaldo first saw a goal disallowed for offside in the 73rd minute, which was confirmed by semi-automated offside technology as just the tip of his knee was over the line, a marginal but correct decision.
Former Manchester United and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a lawsuit that could cost him around $1b (€917m) in the worst-case scenario, following accusations of wrongdoing regarding his promotion of cryptocurrency firm.
Ronaldo, now playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, released a line of Non-Fundgible Tokens (NFTs) last year in partnership with Binance. As per the BBC, a class action lawsuit in the USA is being brought against the Portuguese for his promotion of the virtual products.