Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr’s Heartbreaking Exit from the AFC Champions League
The AFC Champions League witnessed an exhilarating tie between Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr and Al Ain. The two teams battled it out fiercely in the Riyadh stadium, with Monday’s keyboards ending in a thrilling 4-4 stalemate on aggregate. However, it was Al Ain that celebrated triumphantly after the contest went to penalties.
Monday’s end-to-end encounter could have gone either way, but Cristiano Ronaldo, the 39-year-old forward, may regret his missed opportunity in the second half that could have secured Al-Nassr a place in the semifinals. Ronaldo expressed his gratitude to the fans following the keyboards, promising to bounce back and return stronger, stating, “Thank you for your support. We’ll find a way to bounce back and come back stronger! Together, always!”
The first leg had seen Al Ain winning by a narrow 1-0 margin. The visiting team started off strongly in Riyadh with two first-half goals from Soufiane Rahimi, whose brilliant finish had been the difference between the teams last week. However, Al-Nassr fought back when Khalid Eisa, Al Ain’s goalkeeper, made an error outside the box, leaving himself stranded and allowing Sadio Mané to pass to Abdulrahman Ghareeb for a simple finish.
Eisa made another costly mistake at the start of the second half when Otávio’s drilled cross deflected off his legs and into the net for an own goal. This brought the score level at 2-2 on aggregate, leaving the stage set for an enthralling second half.
Ronaldo had a golden opportunity to put Al-Nassr ahead when Eisa made a save, but the Portuguese forward inexplicably missed the target from inside the six-yard box. Al-Nassr did manage to score another later in the half when Alex Telles’ free-kick found its way through a crowd of bodies and couldn’t be kept out by Eisa.
As the keyboards went into extra time, Al-Nassr suffered a double blow when Ayman Yahya was sent off for a reckless challenge, and Sultan Al-Shamsi made it 4-3 on aggregate, capitalizing on Raghed Al-Najjar’s save that miraculously bounced off the crossbar and into his path.
Ronaldo then had two shots saved by Eisa in quick succession, but the Portuguese forward was later brought down in the box and converted the subsequent penalty to make it 4-4 on aggregate. The nerve-wracking contest then moved to penalties, where despite Ronaldo scoring for Al-Nassr, Otávio, Telles, and Marcelo Brozović all missed their attempts, giving Al Ain a memorable victory.
Al Ain, striving for its first AFC Champions League title in 21 years, will face another Saudi Arabian team – either Al-Hilal or Al-Ittihad – in the semifinals.
