Al Ittihad poked fun at Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo after inflicting the first defeat of the season on the Saudi Pro League defending champions.
Al Nassr had won their opening four games in the domestic competition before Saturday’s 2-1 league loss at Al Ittihad.
At one point of the game, Ronaldo, 41, was captured on camera standing behind fellow Portuguese Danilo Pereira and trying to sneak a peek at the tactical note the Al Ittihad midfielder had just received from his coach.
As he turned his head, Danilo was surprised to see Ronaldo’s face so close to his before both players shared a smile.
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Al Ittihad posted a photograph of that moment and wrote on X: “Cheating and still losing!.”
Despite the defeat that dropped the team to second in the standings, three points adrift of leaders Al Hilal, new Al Nassr coach Ange Postecoglou focused on the positives.
“What I saw, after 15 minutes, was one team created chances and that was us,” he said. “If you talk about character, this group of players saw last year and have show this year that they have a very, very strong character.”
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Al Nassr midfielder Ângelo Gabriel, who scored Al Nassr’s only goal, added: “It happens that you can lose a game. Now we have to prove in the next game why we are the defending champions.”
Ronaldo has scored two goals in four games for Al Nassr so far this season.
Before the season kicked off, he said he expected this campaign to be his last. His contract at Al Nassr runs until June 2027.
