Cristiano Ronaldo is unlikely to score a third consecutive hat-trick after he was named on the bench for Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League trip to Damac.
After scoring the decisive penalty in a tense 1-0 win at Al Ahli on March 15, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner claimed the matchball in a 5-1 win over Al Tai and did likewise as Abha were put to the sword 8-0.
Unlike those two struggling sides, Damac are comfortably ensconced in mid-table and will hope to provide a sterner test.
Al Hilal are 12 points clear of Al Nassr at the top of the table and closing in on another title. Saudi Arabia’s big two will clash in the Super Cup semifinal on Monday, which appears to have figured prominently in Luis Castro’s thinking. Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles are alongside Ronaldo among the substitutes.
The Sporting News is following Damac vs. Al Nassr live, providing score updates, commentary and highlights as they happen.
MORE: Where to watch Al Nassr vs Damac
Damac vs Al Nassr live score
| 2nd Half | Goalscorers | |
| Damac | 0 | |
| Al Nassr | 0 |
Lineups:
Damac (4-5-1 right to left): 30. Moustapha Zeghba (GK) — 51. Ramzi Solan, 15. Farouk Chafai, 3. Abdelkader Bedrane, 20. Dhari Al Anazi— 31. Nicolae Stanciu, 8. Tarek Hamed, 49. Ahmed Al Zain, 17. Domagoj Antolic, 10. Georges-Kevin Nkoudou — 14. Abdulaziz Al Shahrani (7.Abdullah Al Qahtani).
Al Nassr (4-5-1 right to left): 26. David Ospina (GK) — 12. Nawaf Bu Washl, 78. Ali Lajami, 27. Aymeric Laporte, 24. Mohammed Qasem (2. Sultan Al Ghannam) — 19. Ali Al Hassan, 29. Abdulrahman Ghareeb, 46. Abdulaziz Al Elewai (10. Sadio Mane), 14. Sami Al Naji (77. Marcelo Brozovic), 8. Abdulmajeed Al Sulayhim — 30. Meshari Al Nemer.
MORE: How many goals has Cristiano Ronaldo scored at Al Nassr this season?
Damac vs Al Nassr live updates, highlights, and commentary
81st minute: Ronaldo probes down the left channel but Solan sticks to his task and the cross is easily collected by Zeghba.
77th minute: Mane tees up Ronaldo for his first attempt of his cameo and he scuffs wide.
76th minute: Big chance for Nkoudou! The former Tottenham winger is down the left and has men over. Damac’s next couple of passes aren’t the best but they keep the move alive. The ball is flashed across goal and Nkoudou perhaps sees it late, unsighted by Laporte. Nevertheless, any sort of telling contact there would have resulted in a goal.
71st minute: The free-kick is deflected behind. Stanciu curls his left-wing corner straight out for a goal kick. Decidedly sub-optimal.
69th minute: Nkoudou gets the wrong side of Lajami, who bundles him over to be booked. Damac have a free-kick on the left corner of the penalty area.
66th minute: Al Qahtani gets an early look at the Al Nassr backline and curls wide under pressure from outside the box. Here comes Ronaldo in place of Al Nemer.
3rd minute: Al Shahrani has ploughed a thankless lone furrow up front for Damac tonight and he’s making way for Al Qahtani. It looks like Al Nassr are going to bring on a forward wearing No. 7 imminently too…
58th minute: Stanciu and Nkoudou over a Damac free-kick on the left. The latter takes and Laporte deals with it. The second ball comes back in, Ospina is unable to claim but goes down. The referee is arguably overly sympathetic in stopping play.
52nd minute: Damac defender Bedrane is down having some treatment after colliding with his own goalkeeper. Substitutes from both teams are taking the opportunity to warmup, including Ronaldo, who gets a predictable rapturous reception.
46th minute: Instant impact from Mane and Al Nassr should lead! The former Liverpool favourite threads a gorgeous through ball into the path of Al Nemer. The youngster is one-on-one with Zeghba and drags his shot wastefully wide.
46th minute: Aaaand we’re back. A double change for Al Nassr, with Mane and Al Ghannam coming on for Al Elewai and the aforementioned Qasem, who’d become a bit of a danger to himself and others. Still no sign of certain CR7.
Halftime: That’s a wrap on the first half. It got a little spicy towards the end and some players on both sides seem pretty cross. They should have tried watching it.
44th minute: The ball breaks nicely to Brozovic on the edge of the box. He launches into a near air shot, studding the ball back to himself. You can’t teach that but the chance is gone. Ohhhh, hang on. Qasem has celebrated his booking by clattering into Solan. I mean, that’s incredibly dense but the referee lets him get away with it. Lucky boy.
43rd minute: Al Nassr try a ball over the top for Al Nemer, who has been forced to reside on the margins. Zeghba is alert to it, darts out of his area and blooters it clear.
41st minute: And now a yellow for Al Nassr left-back Qasem, who blunders into Al Zain.
40th minute: It’s all getting a bit fractious out there. Antolic makes a very obvious yellow-card challenge on Al Sulayhim, is duly booked and then prolongs his argument. A notable lack of support from this team-mates in this endeavour, it must be said.
35th minute: Al Nassr get the next go in this set-piece-dominated joust. Brozovic’s aims in a doozy of a ball this time, Laporte flings himself towards it at the back post but can’t make telling contact.
29th minute: Plenty of fouls, which isn’t exactly helping the already negligible entertainment value on offer. Stanciu has the chance to aim a ball into the Al Nassr box. Straight to Ospina, who clutches it to his midriff. Without putting too fine a point on it, that was rubbish.
28th minute: Brozovic swings in a free-kick from the left. It’s glanced behind, the Croatia midfielder takes the corner short but the Damac defence clear their lines.
25th minute: Damac get forward again but Stanciu has to generate too much of the power on his header himself and Ospina claims unfussily.
21st minute: Wayward touch from Laporte and Nkoudou looks to be in behind before right-back Bu Washl covers back to make a vital interception that spares his more illustrious team-mate.
16th minute: Brozovic smoothly into his works and gets Al Nassr into a slick passing move that ends with Al Sulayhim stinging Zeghba’s palms.
15th minute: Al Nassr forced into an early change and one of their star names is coming on. No, not that one. Marcelo Brozovic is replacing Al Naji in midfield, who started the game with heavy strapping on his thigh that evidently was did not suffice.
5th minute: Al Nassr should be in front! Ghareeb curls in a nice corner from the right. Lajami times his run and leap to perfection but makes a complete hash of a free header.
1st minute: Ospina fizzes a lovely pass into midfield and Ghareeb is off and on his way. He picks out Al Naji, who is given space to curl towards the far post. The cross is blocked with Al Nemer lurking.
4 mins before kickoff: The teams are out on the field. National anthem done, handshakes, a lively atmosphere and we’re almost ready to rock’n’roll.
30 mins before kickoff: The man filling Ronaldo’s considerable shoes in attack tonight is Meshari Al-Nemer. The 20-year-old striker has represented Saudi Arabia at under-23 level. This is the first start of his senior career, with all nine of his previous first-team appearances for Al Nassr coming from the bench.
45 mins before kickoff: Here’s how the hosts will line up.
📋| Mr.Cosmin line up for today’s match …
Good luck to #Damac 💛♥️💪🏻#Damac_AlNasser pic.twitter.com/LyX5t5p1iE— DAMAC_CLUB (@DAMAC_CLUB_EN) April 5, 2024
1 hour before kickoff: Ronaldo on the bench! The teams are in and, well, you know how we mentioned that Super Cup showdown with Al Hilal? Well, Ronaldo is putting his feet up on the bench along with Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and Sadio Mane.
🗒 || Starting lineup,@AlNassrFC vs #Damac pic.twitter.com/loXLmE1XFr
— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) April 5, 2024
1 hr 30 mins before kickoff: The league title might be all but gone for Al Nassr, but Cristiano Ronaldo has powered clear in the Golden Boot race over recent weeks. Back-to-back hat-tricks in the hammerings of Al Tai and Abha saw him race to 29 for the season, seven clear of Aleksandar Mitrovic.
2 hours before kickoff: Hello and welcome to the Sporting News’ live coverage of Al Nassr’s trip to Damac in the Saudi Pro League.
Taking a trip down memory lane 🚀
With some amazing goals against Damac! ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/t4XGibeYzP— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) April 5, 2024
Damac vs Al Nassr kick off time
This Saudi Pro League match at the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium kicks off on Friday, April 5 at 10 p.m. local time in Abha, Saudi Arabia.
Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories around the globe:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Fri, Apr. 5 | 3:00 p.m. ET |
| Canada | Fri, Apr. 5 | 3:00 p.m. ET |
| UK | Fri, Apr. 5 | 8:00 p.m. BST |
| Australia | Sat, Apr. 6 | 5:00 a.m. AEST |
| India | Sat, Apr. 6 | 12:30 a.m. IST |
Damac vs Al Nassr lineups, team news
Damac drew 0-0 draw at Al Hazm last weeken. Former Tottenham winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Romania captain Nicolae Stanciu are the standout names in their lineup.
Damac (4-5-1, right to left): Zeghba (GK) — Solan, Chafai, Bedrane, Al Anazi— Stanciu, Hamed, Al Zain, Antolic; Nkoudou — Al Shahrani.
Damac subs (9): Al Hawsawi, Majrashi, Munshi, Hawsawi, Al Qahtani, Harisi, Makin, Rashidi, Al Johani.
With such a key game against Al Hilal coming up, Luis Castro has rotated his team.
Ronaldo is on the bench alongside Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles. Mohammed Qasem, Ali Lajami and Ali Al Hassan are among those who have come into the XI, with 20-year-old striker Meshari Al Nemer making his full senior debut.
Al Nassr (4-5-1, right to left): Ospina (GK) — Bu Washl, Lajami, Laporte, Qasem — Al Hassan, Ghareeb, Al Elewai, Al Naji, Al Sulayhim — Al Nemer.
Al Nassr subs (9): Najjar (GK), Al Khaibari, Al Ghannam, Telles, Mane, Al Fatil, Aman, Ronaldo, Brozovic.
Damac vs Al Nassr live stream, TV channel
Here’s where you can find the match in some selected major markets:
| TV channel | Streaming | |
| USA | Fox Soccer Plus, FOX Deportes | Fubo, FOX Sports app/website |
| Australia | — | 10 Play |
| Canada | — | DAZN |
| UK | — | DAZN |
| India | — | — |
