Tehran [Iran]: Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr bagged a 2-0 win against Persepolis in the AFC Champions League (ACL) on Tuesday night in Tehran.
Even though the five-time Ballon d’Or winner failed to register his name on the scoresheet, his teammates Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Mohamed Qassem helped the Riyadh-based club to kick off their ACL campaign on a successful note.
Al Nassr coach Luis Castro placed a strong playing eleven on the field. Aymeric Laporte took charge in defence and Marcelo Brozovic partnered with Otavio in the midfield. While in the final third of the pitch, Ronaldo and Sadio Mane took charge of scoring goals.
In the first half of the game, Al Nassr failed to find the back of the net even after creating several clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.
In the opening 10 minutes of the match, Sadio Mane came close to finding the first breakthrough with his left-footed shot from close range but the ball went wide off the left post.
In the 20th minute, Ronaldo attempted a header from the centre of the box but the Persepolis’s goalkeeper made no mistake in saving it and the first half ended goalless.
Just 10 minutes into the second half, the home side was reduced to 10 men after Milad Sarlak of Persepolis attempted a bad foul on Ronaldo.
Ghareeb managed to score the first goal of the match in the 62nd minute after his left-footed shot from the box took a deflection and went straight into the goal.
The second goal came just within ten minutes after the first one when Qaseem’s left-footed shot took a curve got past the keeper and found the top corner.
The game ended 2-0 in favour of Ronaldo-led Al Nassr.
In their upcoming fixture in the Saudi Pro League, Al Nassr will square off against Al Ahli on Friday.
