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The team led by Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane, Al-Nassr, lost their second league game in a row to Al-Taawoun.
Al-Nassr, the new team the two stars joined, lost by a narrow margin to Al-Taawoun, despite having seven players on the roster worth more than £1 million.
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The Saudi Pro League season got off to a rough start for Al Nassr, who like many other clubs this year spent eye-popping sums on players.
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They were taken by surprise on Friday when Al Taawoun won 2-0 in their own stadium. Despite having superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Anderson Talisca, and Marcelo Brozovic on their roster, they still had trouble coming across as a dangerous adversary.
Cameroonian forward Leandre Tawamba scored a header off a corner kιck in the 20th minute to give the visitors the lead.
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The five-man defense and steady goaltending of Al Taawoun were insurmountable obstacles for Ronaldo and the Al Nassr offense.
In the second minute of extra time, Al Taawoun’s substitute, Ahmed Bahusayn, scored the game-winning goal to give his team a 2-0 lead.
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This comes following Al-Nassr’s season-opening 2-1 loss to Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq.
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Many of its star players were rested after winning the Arab Club Champions Cup just 48 hours prior, leading to a season-opening loss to Gerrard’s team.
Even having Ronaldo and the rest of their A-list players healthy and on the field, they were unable to overcome Al Taawoun and ultimately suffered a loss.
The opposing team’s game plan was flawless: they defended well and countered quickly thanks to their swift Brazilian winger, Mateus.
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Al Nassr was unable to establish a consistent оffensive flow despite outshooting Al Taawoun 24-8. Only five of their attempts were on target, compared to six for Al Taawoun.
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Anderson Talisca misfired on a pair of headers inside the box, Sadio Mane had a goal disallowed, an important clearing was made off the goal line, Cristiano Ronaldo’s attempt from offside was blocked, and Marcelo Brozovic fired straight at the goal.
In 2022/23, Al Nassr came in second place, five points shy of rivals Al-Ittihad and the Saudi title.
Starting the season with two straight losses is troubling, as it means they might be six points behind the leaders by the end of Matchday 2.