Starting lineup value €117 million vs. €7.33 million: Ronaldo offside 5 times before finally scoring as Al-Nassr narrowly beats relegation-threatened team 2-1.

At 01:30 on January 22nd Beijing time, in the 17th round of the Saudi Pro League, Ronaldo captained Al-Nassr in an away game against the relegation-threatened Damac.

In the first half, Ghaleb opened the scoring, putting Al-Nassr ahead 1-0 at the break; in the second half, Ronaldo, despite multiple offside infractions, finally found the net to reach 960 career goals, with Felix assisting the Portuguese veteran, while Hakkas scored a consolation for Damac.

In the end, Al-Nassr secured a 2-1 away victory over Damac, earning their second consecutive league win and moving to 37 points, still trailing league leaders Al-Hilal by 4 points.

Damac vs. Al-Nassr featured a 5-4-1 versus 4-4-2 tactical battle; Damac’s starting lineup was valued at just €7.33 million, placing them at the bottom tier of the Saudi Pro League, while Al-Nassr’s lineup was worth a massive €117 million, exemplifying a classic strong vs. weak clash in the league. Damac is fighting relegation, having only collected 11 points from 16 matches, just one point above the drop zone. In contrast, Al-Nassr boasts star power with Ronaldo and Felix forming a Portuguese strike duo, midfield anchored by Koman and Bruno, defense led by Inigo and Simakan, and a Brazilian goalkeeper of international caliber. However, Al-Nassr’s win was hard-fought, especially for Ronaldo, who was caught offside five times and took four shots before finally scoring. Ronaldo worked hard throughout the match, even contributing defensively despite his repeated offside runs caused by a lack of backtracking. The presence of Ronaldo, however, disrupts Al-Nassr’s overall attacking rhythm, which explains their long trophy drought. It’s not a lack of effort from Ronaldo, but rather that the team’s tactics overly rely on him scoring heavily, which exhausts the squad’s collective play.

Throughout the match,Al-Nassr held 61% possession, took 14 shots with 4 on target; Damac managed 8 shots with 3 on target.Ronaldo-led Al-Nassr barely edged past relegation-threatened Damac, illustrating that aside from dominating lower-tier AFC Champions League opponents, winning other titles will remain a tough challenge given their overall team strength!