Al Qadsiah came from behind to hand Al Nassr their first defeat in the 2024/25 Roshn Saudi League season and move level on points with Al Nassr in the league table.

In front of 18,471 fans at Al Awwal Park, the home team almost took the lead within 53 seconds when Otavio intercepted the ball in Al Qadsiah’s half and fed Cristiano Ronaldo in the visitors’ penalty area. The club captain tried to take the shot with his left side, but failed with an extraordinary save at the feet of Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

Al Qadsiah responded when Cameron Puertas fired a left-footed shot from just outside the penalty area. The ball deflected off Al-Nassr midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, requiring goalkeeper Bento to be a little more flexible to block it.

Otavio continued to be the beating heart of Al Nassr’s midfield, once again delivering an excellent pass behind the defense; This time the receiver was right winger Angelo, who aimed for the bottom far corner, but his shot went just wide of the goal.

The home crowd had already begun to cheer when Sadio Mane dribbled past two defenders and sent a drilled ball across the goal to Abdulrahman Ghareeb, who had the goal on his own from three meters. However, the Saudi Arabian international inexplicably missed a shot and sent the ball over the crossbar.

Despite leading the RSL with six clean sheets going into the match, Al Qadsiah’s Casteels was left red-faced when he failed to parry Angelo’s cross from the right in the 32nd minute and lobbed the ball into the path of Ronaldo, who missed With his mistakes he scored his seventh goal of the season that evening and opened Al Nassr’s account.

However, it only took five minutes for the away team to restore parity. Skillful footwork from Turki Al Ammar on the left was followed by a precise cross that Julian Quinones deftly blocked with his chest and the Mexican international fired the half-volley into the net to make it 1-1.

Buoyed by his fifth goal in nine RSL games, the striker picked up where he left off in the second half. Quinones showed his quality when he parried Nahitan Nandez’s diagonal ball with a first-time cross at the far post, where Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang waited with a diving header into the empty net to set up victory for Al Qadsiah.

Coach Michel’s men could have extended their lead even further after the hour when Puertas played a nice back-heel pass to Aubameyang, but the Gabon international’s shot was parried by Bento.

At the other end of the pitch, Casteels recovered from his uncharacteristic error by denying Angelo and Ronaldo. The latter shot with his left foot in the very last minute of the nine minutes of stoppage time. The Belgian’s save handed Al Nassr coach Stefano Pioli their first defeat in the league, leaving Al Hilal the only unbeaten team in the competition ahead of Saturday’s clash with Al Khaleej.

The result fuels the already blazing fire at the top end of the RSL table. Al Qadsiah joins Al Nassr on 22 points while Al Shabab are in fourth place, separated only on goal difference. Al Qadsiah now has a four-game winning streak, the longest in the Pro League era.