Cristiano Ronaldo scored his customary goal as Al Nassr maintained their perfect start to the Saudi Pro League season on Saturday night.
Ronaldo scored from the spot to make it 2-0 just after the hour mark. The Brazilian Angelo Gabriel had given Nassr the lead in the first half, and although Neom briefly threatened a comeback through Ahmed Abdo's 84th minute strike, Joao Felix netted his 10th of the campaign to settle nerves and wrap up a 3-1 victory for the league leaders.
Neom's Luciano Rodriguez had earlier received a red card for elbowing Nassr's Nawaf Boushal, forcing the home side to play the majority of the second half with 10 men.
Ronaldo's goal made it 100 goal involvements – 83 goals and 17 assists – for Al Nassr. The 40-year-old has managed the feat in just 85 games.
The goal was the 953rd of his career as he chases down the landmark of 1,000 senior goals.
Al Nassr have won all eight of their SPL games this season and lead the league by three points from Al Taawoun, who have seven wins and one defeat from their eight fixtures.
Taawoun, who have won seven straight since an opening day 5-0 trouncing by Nassr, maintained their hot form with a 5-2 thrashing of Al Fateh.
Roger Martinez claimed a hat-trick, with Cristhoper Zambrano and Mohammed Al Kuwaykibi also on target.
Elsewhere, Riyad Mahrez struck the only goal of the game as Al Ahli defeated city rivals Al Ittihad in the Jeddah derby.
Al Ahli climbed to fifth place in the table on 16 points, while Al Ittihad, with no wins in their last five league matches, stay eighth with 11 points. The champions have endured a miserable defence of their crown and have seen their form deteriorate further since their decision to sack title-winning coach Laurent Blanc.
New boss Sergio Conceicao has had some notable results in the cups, but is yet to win an SPL match.
Despite lots of the ball early on, Ittihad struggled to create chances, with captain Karim Benzema a peripheral figure.
Al Ahli threatened late in the first half when Franck Kessie went close but he was flagged for an offside.
Mahrez eventually made the breakthrough in the 55th minute, collecting the ball inside the area before stroking home a cool low finish beyond Ittihad goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic.
On Friday night, Salem Al Dawsari's double helped Al Hilal stay in the title hunt with a 4-2 win over Al Najma. Theo Hernandez and Ruben Neves also weighed in with second half goals for Simone Inzaghi's side.
