Cristiano Ronaldo scored his seventh goal of the Saudi Pro League season on Saturday night as Al Nassr maintained their fine run of form with a 3-1 victory at Al Raed.
After being frustrated by the hosts for much of the first half, Sadio Mane broke the deadlock just before the interval at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium with a low drive from the edge of the area into the bottom corner. It was the Senegalese forward's sixth goal of the season.
It went from bad to worse for Al Raed moments later when Bander Whaeshi was sent off for pulling back Mane when the Nassr forward was clear through on goal. The resulting free-kick from Ronaldo looked destined for the back of the net but took a slight deflection and sailed narrowly past the post.
With the extra man, Nassr immediately dominated from the start of the second half and the Riyadh giants doubled their lead in the 49th minute when Brazilian midfielder Talisca slammed in a long-range effort into the top corner for one of the goals of the season so far.
Ronaldo then got in on the action with Nassr's third goal, the Portuguese forward producing a sharp turn and finish to make it 3-0 in the 78th minute for his league-leading seventh goal of the campaign.
Al Raed pulled one back late from the penalty spot when Nassr defender Abdulelah Al Amri mistimed his diving tackle on Karim El Berkaoui; Mohamed Fouzair converted the spot kick with a delicate Panenka down the middle of the Nassr goal.
The victory was Nassr's fourth in a row after opening the league season with surprise defeats to Al Ettifaq and Al Taawoun. It was also the fourth successive game where Ronaldo and Mane both scored.
Nassr sit in sixth, one place behind Steven Gerrard's Ettifaq, who also won on Saturday evening, claiming their own 3-1 victory at Abha.
All four goals came in the second half as former Celtic and Lyon striker Moussa Dembele opened the scoring in the 58th minute before Swedish forward Robin Quaison and Saudi midfielder Hamed Al Ghamdi struck to give Ettifaq an unassailable lead.
Cameroonian forward Karl Toko Ekambi then got Abha on the scoresheet deep into injury time from the penalty spot.
In Jeddah, Allan Saint-Maximin scored the winner as Al Ahli bounced back from their 5-1 defeat to Al Fateh with a thrilling 3-2 win over high-flying Al Taawoun.
Saudi defender Abdulbasit Hindi got Ahli off the mark with a goal in the fourth minute before an own goal from Waleed Al Ahmed doubled the hosts' lead at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.
Taawoun halved the deficit moments before halftime through Brazilian striker Joao Pedro on his debut and were level six minutes after the break when Gambian forward Musa Barrow came off the bench to score.
Former Newcastle winger Saint-Maximin then restored Ahli's lead in the 67th minute with a superb long-range strike, and the Frenchman's goal proved to be the matchwinner.
Taawoun thought they had equalised in stoppage time but the goal was ruled out after the referee consulted VAR and saw the throw-in which started the move bounced out of the pitch first.
After the sixth round of matches, Al Hilal lead the table following Friday night's 6-1 win over Al Riyadh which saw Neymar make his highly-anticipated debut.
Champions Al Ittihad and Ahli are a point behind in second and third respectively.
