Damac 1-2 Al-Nassr: Ronaldo on target as visitors grind out victory

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 16th Saudi Pro League goal of the season as Al-Nassr defeated Damac 2-1 on Wednesday to make it back-to-back victories.

Jamal Harkass pulled a goal back for Damac after Ronaldo had added to Abdulrahman Ghareeb’s early opener, but Al-Nassr saw out the win at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium.

The victory moves Al-Nassr, who snapped a three-game losing streak with victory against Al-Shabab at the weekend, four points behind leaders Al-Hilal having played a game more.

After scoring the winner against Al-Shabab as a substitute, Ghareeb put Jorge Jesus’ side ahead inside five minutes in Abha with a composed finish past Kewin from 12 yards out.

Ronaldo fired a rare blank last time out, but the Portugal forward was played in behind by international team-mate Joao Felix five minutes into the second half and delicately finished to add to his tally for the season.

The visitors did not have things all their own way, though, as Harkass glanced in a fine header with 68 minutes played to give Damac hope of snapping their eight-match losing streak against Al-Nassr in the league.

Ronaldo thought he had put the game out of reach, only for the offside flag to deny him, but Al-Nassr were able to see out a narrow win to put some pressure back on Al-Hilal ahead of Thursday’s clash with Al-Fayha.

Job done in Abha pic.twitter.com/yh2OEqE9Lc

— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) January 21, 2026

Data Debrief: Al-Nassr put away woes behind them

Al-Nassr had lost their previous two away Saudi Pro League matches, but they avoided making that three in a row for the first time since December 2020.

They produced 1.54 expected goals (xG) in the win from 14 shots to Damac’s 0.59 from eight attempts.

Ghareeb earned his starting spot and has now netted in successive games for the first time since April 2024, while Ronaldo’s strike moves him one ahead of Ivan Toney in the top scorers chart.

With the win, Al-Nassr are now unbeaten in 15 league matches against Aseer-based teams, including six victories in a row by an aggregate scoreline of 18-4.