By Sergio Silva
01 Dec 2023, 18:41 PM EST
Al Hilal hit the table this Friday by achieving an important and convincing 3-0 victory over Al Nassr of Cristiano Ronaldoin a match in which The Portuguese star saw Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán annul a goal for a dubious offside positionin a decision that could have changed the result of the match.
Roldán was in charge of dispensing justice in the Arab soccer classic and The controversy was present when making a couple of decisions that included CR7’s claimespecially in what would have been a spectacular goal from the Portuguese in the 74th minute. Previously, the Colombian did not award a possible penalty for Al Nassr after reviewing the play in the VAR.
After Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opened the scoring for Al Hilal in the 64th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo was present ten minutes later to level the score, although His great goal with a first-class shot from a cross from the right ended up being annulled by Colombian referee Wilmar Roldán due to an advanced position of the Portuguese.
What could have been a draw for Al Nassr ended up becoming a nightmare for Cristiano Ronaldo’s team that saw its streak of 12 games without losing in the local championship come to an end. A double from Aleksandar Mitrovic in the final minutes sealed Al Hilal’s resounding victory.
With these three points, the leader of the Saudi Premier League further increased his advantage over Al Nassr. Al Hilal was left with 41 points, seven above its closest pursuer when just over half of the matches of the 2023-2024 season still remain to be played.
Despite the canceled goal, Cristiano Ronaldo managed to stay at the top of the scoring table in the championship. The Portuguese star, 38, was left with 15 scores, while with his double this Friday Aleksandar Mitrovic moved within two goals of the Al Nassr star. Frenchman Karim Benzema, from Al Ittihad, is fourth with nine goals.
Neymar supporting from a distance
Brazilian star Neymar has not stopped giving his support to his Al Hilal teammates despite being in the middle of a long recovery process after having undergone surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee suffered in October during a South American qualifying match with the Brazilian National Team.
Neymar showed on his social networks an image in which he appeared watching the match and left the message: “Let’s go guys”. In the photo the Brazilian forward appears with a device on his left knee as a result of his operation.
The player is expected to be out for the remainder of the season and for this reason Al Hilal decided to temporarily suspend the registration of the Brazilian star to take his place with other players.
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