Nigerian International Odion Jude Ighalo was instrumental to his side’s victory over Al Nassr as the battle for the Saudi Pro League gets hotter.
Ighalo netted a brace in the encounter scoring in the 42nd and 62nd minute to hand his side a remarkable win over Ronaldo’s Al Nassr.
Al Hilal sit 4th on the Saudi Arabian top-flight with 49 points gathered from 25 games played, they are 7 points behind league leaders Al Ittihad who have two games outstanding.
The Riyadh based club are 8 time champions of the Saudi Arabian Pro League and they are the defending champions of the division.
The Blue Waves came out victorious over Al Nassr in the Riyadh derby, an encounter that was fierce as customary with several derby clashes.
Odion Ighalo’s numbers for Al Nassr is wonderful
Odion Ighalo has been menacing in attack for Al Hilal since he arrived from Al Shabab in January 2022. He has scored 42 goals in 51 appearances for the side in total.
This campaign, the former Manchester United man has netted 22 goals and made 2 assists in 22 matches for the Saudi Arabian heavyweights.
The Nigerian is the current top scorer of the Saudi Pro League with 18 goals, two goals ahead of Al Nassr attacker, Anderson Talisca and Al Ittihad forward, Abderrazak Hamdallah.
The last meeting involving Al Nassr and Al Hilal ended in a pulsating 2-2 share of the spoils with Ighalo being amongst the names on the scoresheet last December.
Odion Ighalo has scored in every Riyadh Derby since he joined the side, either in cup competitions or Saudi Pro League meetings.
He has netted five goals in four games against rivals Al Nassr with the latest being the brace on Tuesday.
Al Hilal don’t appear to be in a great position to retain their Saudi Pro League crown but it would be a huge mistake to rule them out of the title with several games still to play before the expiration of the campaign.
The Al Nassr forward dangerous challenge on Gustavo Cellar
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo had a bad day at the office against Al Hilal on Tuesday and he got booked by the referee for a risky WWE style challenge.
The Portuguese wrapped his arm around Gustavo Cellar of Al Hilal and hauled him to the ground during their 2-0 league loss against Al Hilal.
In spite of the abysmal challenge from the 5-time-Ballon D’or winner, he was brandished a yellow card from ex-Premier League referee Michael Oliver.
As the encounter neared its expiration, Ronaldo netted after dashing onto a long ball sent into the area but his strike was ruled out for offside.
Al Nassr are winless in back-to-back Saudi Pro League games and they dismissed head coach Rudi Garcia in the midst of speculations that he couldn’t control the dressing room.
Reports also stated that he was fired for not having a great relationship with former Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dinko Jelicic was afterwards announced as the new manager of the first team, he was previously in charge of the U19 team of Al Nassr.
