Ronaldo scores twice on return

Cristiano Ronaldo marked his return from a month-long injury layoff by scoring twice in the second half as Al ‌Nassr maintained their winning run with a 5-2 victory over bottom side Al Najma in the Saudi Pro League on Friday. The Portuguese forward, sidelined since February, had missed Al Nassr’s previous two ⁠league matches and was also ruled out of Portugal’s friendlies against Mexico and the United States last month. Al Najma, who have won only once in 27 league games, took a surprise lead a minute before halftime through Rakan Al Tulayhi. Al Nassr responded swiftly, with Abdullah Al Hamdan and Sadio Mane scoring ‌in ⁠first-half stoppage time to turn the match around. The visitors drew level two minutes after the restart when Felippe Cardoso struck, but Al Nassr regained control when Ronaldo ⁠converted a penalty in the 56th minute. The 41-year-old added his second in the 73rd minute before Mane sealed the ⁠win with a stoppage-time strike. Earlier on Friday, Al-Ittihad claimed a 1-0 win at home against Al-Hazem despite having Moussa Diaby sent off after 34 minutes. Having been denied a penalty by VAR in the 66th minute, the reigning SPL champions took the lead six minutes later through Abdulrahman Al-Obud. Al-Ittihad now sit sixth in the table with 45 points from 27 matches. Al-Hazem are in 10th place with 31 points from the same number of matches. In the day’s other match, Al-Kholood drew 2-2 with Khaleej Club with two first-half goals from Guga (9 minutes) and Abdulaziz Al-Elewai (37), the visitors’ first equalizer coming from a Konstantinos Fortounis penalty spot on 18 minutes. Khaleej grabbed a point thanks to a second leveller from Giorgos Masouras in the 85th minute. The result leaves Al-Kholood in 14th place and Khaleej in 10th. Al Nassr’s 13th consecutive league victory kept them top of the standings ⁠on 70 points, six clear of second-placed Al Hilal, who play Al Taawoun on Saturday.