Al-Nassr's Asian Win Sealed by Legendary Goal

Al-Nassr beat Fergana's Neftchi 3-1 to make up for their heavy opening-day defeat in the AFC Champions League Elite.

According to "Varzesh Se", in its second match in the league stage of the Asian Elite League, Saudi Arabian Nasr hosted Naftchi Ferghana at the Al-Awal Park Stadium in Riyadh and passed the barrier of the Uzbekistan representative with a score of 3-1. This was the first Asian victory of Ange Postkoglu's students in the new season, which was achieved after a 4-0 defeat against Al-Ain.

Al-Nasr, who lost Kingsley Coman due to injury in the opening minutes, scored the first goal in the 33rd minute. Nawaf Bushel's movement from the right side and his pass in the penalty area reached Angelo Gabriel and the Brazilian striker opened the goal of Naftchi with a strong shot.

Cristiano Ronaldo increased the difference to two goals three minutes before the end of the first half. Sadio Mane's pass from the right wing reached the Portuguese captain with the effect of Ayman Yahya, and Ronaldo scored the second goal of Al-Nasr after controlling the ball and turning quickly. This goal was the 982nd goal of Ronaldo's career and brought him 19 goals away from the historical record of 1000 goals.

In the 51st minute, Naftchi took advantage of the host's defenders' mistake and compensated for one of the missed goals by Alishir Odilov. Uzbekistan's hopes of getting back into the match were dashed in the 65th minute as Jamshid Skanderov was sent off with a straight red card for a rough tackle on Mohammad Simakan.

Al-Nasr took control of the game by using their numerical advantage and scored the third goal in the 78th minute. Samo Costa's pass from the right side, with the intervention of Naftchi defender Anwar Ghafurov, entered the team's goal to make the score 3-1 and the host's dream of getting three points relieved.

Naftchi, who had won against the Iraqi Air Force in the first week with a late goal by Zoran Marosic, experienced the first Asian defeat of the season. By winning these three points, Al-Nasr showed a good reaction to the heavy loss against Al-Ain and returned to the competition in the West region table. The match between the two teams started about an hour late due to the implementation of security protocols.