Cristiano Ronaldo starred in one of his worst games at Al Nassr. The Portuguese striker was sent off with a straight red card in the semi-final of the Saudi Arabian Super Cup against Al Hilal for elbowing an opponent twice. The captain of Al Nassr completely lost his temper, even threatening the referee with a raised fist gesture and confronting the rival fans as he retreated to the locker room.
Al Hilal, three-time champion of the tournament, led by the Portuguese Jorge Jesús, was superior, especially in the second half, to the one coached by his compatriot Luis Castro, and he confirmed it with the goals in that quarter from Salem Al Dawsari and the Brazilian Malcom at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
After a balanced first half, in which Cristiano Ronaldo was very active and in which a goal by Al Nassr was disallowed due to offside by the Portuguese Otávio in added time, Al Hilal took control of the game in the second.
Salem Al Dawsari, with a pass from Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, opened the scoring in the 61st minute by beating Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina. And in the 72nd minute the sentence came with a goal from Brazilian Malcom, a former Barcelona player who headed in a precise service from the right by his compatriot Michael.
With five minutes remaining, Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off with a straight red card for attacking Saud Abdulhamid in the fight for the ball to take a quick throw-in.
The Portuguese even made the gesture of trying to punch the referee, who had his back turned, after seeing the red card, and is exposed to a harsh sanction. It was the twelfth expulsion for the Portuguese striker. In extra time (m.99), and with Cristiano Ronaldo off the field, Al Nassr closed the gap with a goal from Senegalese Sadio Mané.
Al Ittihad, defender of the title won in 2022 and led by Frenchman Karim Benzema, and Al Hilal, three-time champion of the tournament and who got rid of Al Nassr of Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, will face each other on Thursday in the final of the Super Cup Saudi Arabia, which is played in Abu Dhabi.
