Malcom beat Ronaldo in the match for the leaders of Saudi Arabia. And Cristiano got angry because of the judge!

Malcom beat Ronaldo in the match for the leaders of Saudi Arabia. And Cristiano got angry because of the judge!

Anatoly Romanov December 1, 2023, 23:23 Moscow time

Al-Hilal defeated Al-Nasr and moved seven points ahead of its rival.

In the Saudi Arabian championship, the central match of the first round was played: Al-Hilal against Al-Nasr. Before this match, the locals led with 38 points, four points ahead of the guests. Al-Hilal plays Neymar (currently injured), Sergei Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ruben Neves, Moroccan goalkeeper Bono and former Zenit winger Malcolm. Al Nasr’s squad includes Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mané, Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte, Otavio, Sekou Fofana, Alex Telles and Anderson Talisca. In general, a team of stars, diluted with local personnel.

After 14 rounds, Ronaldo led by a margin the list of top scorers and most productive players in the league (15+7 according to the “goal plus pass” system). Malcolm was one of his main pursuers (9+4).

Before the start of the match, the fans put on such a fiery spectacle in the stands (and in the central offices!) that Europe and South America would be the envy. Colombian referee Vilmar Roldán was even forced to delay the opening whistle. And then there was a lot of fire on the football field: the rivals constantly clashed, expressed themselves something, and in several episodes there was a strong smell of fighting.

Al-Nassr, who needed to win to close the gap on the leader, controlled the ball more. Al-Hilal pressed and relied on quick counterattacks. Overall, it seemed that local coach Jorge Jesús’s plan worked more effectively than that of his colleague and compatriot Luis Castro. But at the same time there was a lot of free space on the field. As speeds increased, compactness was immediately lost.

The most striking figure at the beginning was Malcom, who was acting under the command of the attacker. The Brazilian created Al-Hilal’s first scoring chance, taking the ball from Brozovic and passing it to Mitrovic. The Russian passport holder then took part in a couple more good attacks from the home team. Malcolm himself had a chance to score at the end of the half hour when he shot from underneath Laporte but narrowly missed. Al-Nasr’s defense was nervous and the goalkeeper was strange.

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For Ronaldo, the first half was average. He rarely faced the ball in good positions. Halftime passed before Cristiano managed to shoot from the semicircle in a quick attack, but it hit the goalkeeper. Before the break, Al-Nasr’s best chance was created by Talisca, who played against Ronaldinho in the local area. In general, the guests should be happy with the zeroes after 45 minutes of play.

Even before the break, Al-Nasr lost left back Telles due to injury. The former Manchester United player was taken to the bench in an electric car. Out of nowhere, the Brazilian was injured! But it was Yahya, who replaced him, who created the first chance of the second half and perhaps the most dangerous for Castro’s team, when Talisca simply missed the target. But Al-Hilal still scored at the end of the hour mark. This goal came as a result of a throw-in and a cross into the area: the tall Milinkovic-Savic hit the goal in his characteristic style: with his head, playing forward.

Jesus’ team, even after taking the lead, sought to welcome Al-Nasr high. If the pressure was broken in the first seconds, Ronaldo and company had free space. Cristiano himself once again needed halftime to shoot on goal for the first time. However, the Portuguese couldn’t get it right and when they finally did in the 73rd minute, Ronaldo scored from offside. The offside was minimal, but it was still there. Castro was so overcome with emotion that he showed the judge a replay on his phone of him with a flag! He reassured the coach: the VAR will check, don’t make a fuss.

In the end, Ronaldo asked for a penalty several times and ironically commented on the referees’ actions. But, in fact, all of Roldán’s decisions in controversial episodes in the area seemed correct. And the most controversial thing the Colombian did was in the 90th minute in the Al-Nasr area, when Mitrovic pushed Cristiano in a set piece and scored another goal for Al-Hilal, which eliminated all doubts about the result of the battle of the leaders. At that moment Ronaldo was simply outraged!

Al-Hilal won a well-deserved victory, making the most shots on goal – 17:13 (on goal – 6:3). Plus, Jesus’ team won big. In added time, Mitrovic scored the third goal on a counterattack with a low shot from Laporte. Al-Nasr completely broke down and then almost missed the fourth when Malcom shot beautifully through himself.

Malcom’s statistics in this match: 39 touches of the ball, four shots and three passes. Ronaldo has 33 touches, three shots and one assist. The former Zenit player surpassed Cristiano in the match between the leaders of the Saudi Arabian championship and obtained a higher rating in SofaScore (7.4 points compared to 6.6). His Al-Hilal are already seven points ahead.