Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr suffered a frustrating evening on Sunday as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Al-Fahya.
Going into this Roshn Saudi League clash, the Riyadh giants were a point behind leaders Al-Ittihad with eight games of the season remaining.
How tight things are at the top means that this is a result that will be warmly welcomed in Jeddah, and the sight of defender Abdulelah Al-Amri pounding the grass in frustration in added time at the end of the second half will also be remembered among Ittihad fans. For the supporters of Al-Nassr, it summed up the previous 90 minutes.
There were few chances in the early exchanges, although Al-Nassr’s Anderson Talisca had a claim for a handball after 13 minutes. Seven minutes later, however, Al-Fayha thought they had taken the lead. Aleksandar Trajkovski fired home an unstoppable shot from outside the area but the Macedonian star had been just offside when collecting the ball.
That close call seemed to spur the visitors on, and just before the half-hour Ayman Yahya headed just wide when it looked as if Al-Nassr was going to take the lead. They went even closer soon after as Vladimir Stojkovic pushed over a fierce effort from Abdullah Al-Khaibari. Just after the half-hour, Ronaldo twisted inside the area to send a half-volley just wide of the near post. The pressure came to nothing as the two teams went in at the break with the scoreline goalless.
Once the action resumed, both teams continued in their struggles to create meaningful openings. Al-Nassr also struggled to get Ronaldo into the game, although the Portuguese star twisted and turned outside the area around the halfway point of the second half to fire off a shot that went straight at the goalkeeper. Soon after, the forward fired a long-range free-kick just over the bar. He did the same with 12 minutes remaining, from a half-volley following a nod down from Talisca.
The Brazilian had the ball in the net soon after with a low shot that squeezed inside Stojkovic’s post but was adjudged to have been offside when collecting the ball. By this time, Al-Fayha were offering little going forward while the Riyadh side were becoming increasingly frantic but were simply unable to find a way through the committed home defense. It was all hands to the pump for Al-Fahya as seven minutes of added time was signalled, but in the end, the hosts, trying to climb out of the bottom half of the table, coped well with everything that the nine-time champions could throw at them. Ronaldo was less than happy as the final whistle blew and was quickly off down the tunnel
There are still seven games remaining this season and only time will tell whether this was a valuable point for Al-Nassr as they chase league title number ten. Judging by the reactions of the Riyadh giants at full-time, this is not a game that they will look back on with any affection and is one they will quickly want to forget.