JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal wasn’t enough as Karim Benzema’s Al-Ittihad beat Al-Nassr 2-1 to record a ninth straight win and move five points clear at the top of the Saudi Pro League on Friday.
Al-Nassr finished fourth, 11 points behind the leaders as the league paused for a month.
Benzema opened the scoring in the 55th minute when he shot from inside the penalty area after being tricked from a perfect cross from Muhannad Al-Shanqiti from the right.
The home fans in Jeddah were still cheering when Ronaldo equalized less than two minutes later. The five-time Ballon D’Or winner fired past Predrag Rajkovic from close range to join Benzema’s 10th league goals and prevent the Serbian goalkeeper from keeping a sixth consecutive clean sheet.
Sadio Mane missed his second chance to score for Al-Nassr and the team was penalized in stoppage time.
Steven Bergwijn, the Dutch international signed from Ajax Amsterdam in September, curled a shot from the edge of the box into the far corner to win the game for Al-Ittihad and coach Laurent Blanc.
Al-Qadsia moved past Al-Nassr into third place after winning 3-0 at Al-Kholood. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s second-half strike was punctuated by two goals from Mexican Julian Quinones.
Defending champions Al-Hilal will cut Ittihad’s lead to two points if they beat Al-Raed on Saturday.
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