Olaleye IDOWU
Jorge Jesus, the manager of Al-Nassr, has said that things have not been going well for Cristiano Ronaldo lately, especially in terms of set-pieces.
He mentioned that his team needs to do better with set pieces in the future.
He said this after the Knights of Najd won a tense 3-2 match against Al-Shabab, who played with ten men after one of their players was sent off, in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday.
Ronaldo’s side has not been performing well before the game, having lost their previous three league matches.
However, Saad Balobaid scored an own-goal just two minutes into the match to give them a good start. Kingsley Coman then scored six minutes later to make the lead two goals.
Unfortunately, Mohamed Simakan accidentally scored an own goal in the 31st minute, which reduced the deficit. Al-Shabab tied the game in the 53rd minute when Carlos Junior scored from a counter-attack.
Abdulrahman Ghareeb scored the winning goal for Al-Nassr by hitting the bottom-left corner of the net during a corner kick in the 76th minute.
Speaking to reporters following the match, Jesus wasn’t happy with their set-pieces and said (via @TheNassrZone):
“We need to get better at set-pieces, and we have the best set-piece taker, Cristiano Ronaldo. Indeed, things haven’t been going well for him lately, and we hope to improve things in the coming weeks.”
Ronaldo has scored 16 goals and provided three assists in 19 matches across all competitions.
But Al-Nassr have had trouble using their strengths in their set-pieces lately.
The 40-year-old player has scored two goals in their last four games, including one from a penalty kick.
