Cristiano Ronaldo’s quest for the Saudi Pro League title took another unwanted turn on Monday night as Al Nassr slipped further behind leaders Al Ittihad in the race for the top-flight trophy.
Second-placed Nassr, hunting a first league crown in four years, were held to a hugely disappointing 1-1 draw at home by third-from-bottom Al Khaleej, with Ronaldo failing to find the net.
Not long after the result at Mrsool Park was confirmed, Ittihad dispatched Al Abha 4-0 in Jeddah to increase their advantage at the top to five points with four matches remaining.
For Nassr, it was yet another stumble in their bid for a 10th league title. Having already slipped from the summit, the Riyadh side have dropped seven points in their past four games as Ronaldo has cut an increasingly frustrated figure.
On Monday, Nassr were behind almost immediately, when on three minutes Portuguese forward Fabio Martins latched onto a fine through ball from Morato and finished expertly past Augustin Rossi in the home goal.
To their credit, Nassr responded quickly. On 17 minutes, Spanish centre-back Alvaro Gonzalez rose well to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb’s free-kick at Khaleej’s back post to head down beyond Marwan Al Haidari.
From there, Al Haidari made a couple of astute saves, keeping out Luiz Gustavo from range, tipping a deflected effort onto his crossbar, and repelling a rasping, left-footed drive from Ronaldo. Before half-time, he blocked brilliantly from Ghareeb.
Ronaldo, who signed for Nassr in December in reportedly one of the most lucrative deals in football history, had struggled to have a major impact, although he did have the ball in the net just before the hour. However, reacting first to another Al Haidari stop, his rebound was correctly ruled out for offside.
The former Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid star, 38, had another opportunity late on. Yet, after skipping superbly past two defenders to create space inside the Khaleej penalty area, he sent his low shot inches wide.
Nassr could have won the game thereafter, but substitute Ayman Yahya headed against the crossbar and, deep into injury-time, defender Abdulelah Al Amri somehow lashed wide a Ronaldo knockdown. Ronaldo held his head in his hands.
That much was understandable, since the draw could prove extremely costly in Nassr’s title bid. Ronaldo, who has 12 goals in 13 league matches, will next be in action for his side on May 16, away to seventh-placed Al Tai.
On the same night, Ittihad take on current champions, and Asian Champions League runners-up, Al Hilal in Riyadh. Hilal currently sit fourth in the 2022/23 standings.
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
