Cristiano Ronaldo scores first-half hattrick for Al-Nassr in Saudi Pro League

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a stunning first-half hattrick in Al-Nassr’s 3-0 win against Damac FC in a Saudi Pro League.
| Photo Credit: Twitter/@AlNassrFC_EN

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a stunning first half hattrick in Al-Nassr’s 3-0 win against Damac FC in a Saudi Pro League.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner opened the scoring in the 18 minutes of the game from the penalty spot after Ibrahim Al Nakhli was penalised for a handball inside the penalty area. Then in the 23rd minute, Ronaldo made it 2-0 for Al Nassr, with a powerful left-footed strike that became his 169th from the weaker side.

Receiving a pass from the right wing, Ronaldo was surrounded by a lot of players, but scored a screamer from outside the opposition box with his left foot, shooting the ball into the bottom-left corner.

Cristiano Ronaldo completed his hat-trick in the 44th minute with Al Nassr on the counter-attack. Ronaldo received a cut-back pass near the penalty spot from Sultan Al Ghanam, which he comfortably placed over the opposition goalkeeper to make it 3-0.

Al-Nassr returned to the top of the Saudi Pro League with the victory, two points ahead of Al-Ittihad, who dropped points to Al-Raed at home on Thursday.

With the hattrick, the Portuguese international now has 8 goals in the Saudi Pro League after his record-breaking move away from Manchester United, in just 5 matches.

Ronaldo came to Saudi Arabia after falling out with his boyhood club Manchester United, enduring a difficult relationship with their current manager Eric Ten Hag.

Cristiano Ronaldo was left on the bench for his side’s important Premier League games against Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester City, as Ten Hag blamed his lack of match fitness and then out of ‘respect for his career’.