Cristiano Ronaldo scores brace on return as five-star Al Nassr thrash Al Najma

[p]The Portuguese forward, sidelined since February, had missed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-nassr/h4I89ZuE/"]Al Nassr[/a]’s previous two ‌league matches and was also ⁠ruled out ‌of Portugal’s friendlies against Mexico and the ​United States last month.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-najma/0QD6GL0s/"]Al Najma[/a], who have won only once ​in 27 league games, took a surprise lead a minute before ⁠halftime through [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/altulayhi-rakan/G0AxIpT4/"]​Rakan Al Tulayhi[/a].[/p][p]Al Nassr responded swiftly, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/al-hamdan-abdullah/Ikic8l8H/"]Abdullah Al Hamdan[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mane-sadio/xxskxOU0/"]Sadio Mane[/a] scoring in first-half stoppage time ‌to turn the match around.[/p][embed guid="db2d5297-38f6-4107-88fe-7b042a544067" url="https://x.com/AlNassrFC_EN/status/2040159568659959877" social-type="twitter" /][p]The visitors drew level two minutes after the restart when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/felippe-cardoso/dhEfBotN/"]Felippe Cardoso[/a] struck, but Al Nassr regained control when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ronaldo-cristiano/WGOY4FSt/"]Ronaldo[/a] converted a penalty in the 56th minute.[/p][p]The 41-year-old added his second in the 73rd minute ‌before Mane sealed the win ​with a stoppage-time strike.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/al-najma-0QD6GL0s/al-nassr-h4I89ZuE/?mid=zRrJXsBC"]Al Nassr’s 13th ‌consecutive league victory[/a] kept them top of the standings on 70 points, six clear of second-placed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-hilal/hxxcePl9/"]Al Hilal[/a], who play Al ⁠Taawoun on Saturday.[/p]