Al Qadsiah 3-1 Al‑Nassr Highlights, Saudi Pro League: Red Knights Stun Ronaldo's Side To Throw Title Race Open

Good evening, football fans! This is the start of our live blog covering Al Qadsiah’s match against Al-Nassr in Dammam. Stay tuned for pre-match updates and line-ups as they are released.

• Fixture: Al Qadsiah vs Al-Nassr

• Series: Saudi Pro League 2025-26

• Venue: Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium, Dammam

• Date: Sunday, May 3, 2026

• Time: 11:30 PM IST

Starting XI: Bento Krepski; Nawaf Al-Boushail, Mohamed Simakan, Abdulelah Al Amri, Inigo Martinez; Abdullah Alkhaibari, Marcelo Brozovic; Kingsley Coman, Joao Felix, Angelo; Cristiano Ronaldo (c).

Bench: Abdulrahman Al Otaibi (gk), Sultan Al Ghanam, Nader Abdullah Al Sharari, Saad Al-Nasser, Ali Al-Hassan, Ayman Yahya, Mohammed Maran, Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Abdullah Al-Hamdan.

Starting XI: Koen Casteels; Mohammed Abu Al Shamat, Jehad Thakri, Nacho (c), Gaston Alvarez; Musab Al-Juwayr, Nahitan Nandez, Otavio, Christopher Bonsu Baah; Julian Quinones, Abdullah Al Salem.

Bench: Ahmed Ali Al Kassar (gk), Yasir Al Shahrani, Mohammed Qassem Al Nakhli, Ali Abdullah Hazzazi, Eyad Houssa, Ibrahim Mahnashi, Amar Al-Yuhaybi, Haitham Asiri, Gabriel Carvalho.

The players are out on the pitch for tonight's match, and Al-Nassr, in their traditional all-yellow kit, get the ball rolling. Al-Ahli are also playing against Al Akhdoud, with the results of that game being crucial for Al-Nassr's title ambitions.

Angelo receives the ball on the left and plays it at the other flank towards Joao Felix. The former Chelsea man floats in a good cross towards the far corner in search of Ronaldo, but it's a bit too heavy and goes behind for a goal kick.

An early chance for the home side, as a cross from the left is met by a leaping Abu Al-Shamat, whose first time volley goes just over the bar. However, the offside flag goes up immediately.

15 minutes of football have been played in Dammam, and Al Qadsiah have been the better side in the opening stages, forcing Bento to make a couple of decent stops. Looks like it won't be a walkover for Al-Nassr as many would have expected.

Al Qadsiah are finding spaces in really dangerous moments. The hosts win a corner that is floated in towards the middle of the box. Nacho jumps for it, but Al-Nassr defenders clear, but the hosts regain posession. It is played to Nacho on the right wing, but he can't find a teammate with his cross.

Mohammed Abu Al-Shamat finally finds the back of the net and puts Al Qadsiah ahead! It's a lovely delivery from the left by Baah which picks out Al-Shamat perfectly, and the full-back flicks it brilliantly past Bento.

After a good stop by Bento to deny the hosts another early strike, Otavio floats in a corner towards the middle of the box. It picks out Thakri, but the centre-back can't keep his header down and it floats over the bar.

Cristiano Ronaldo hits the upside of the crossbar!! The Portuguese superstar has been fairly quiet tonight, but he is found in front of the box. Ronaldo tries to dink it over the head of the keeper and under the bar, but can't get enough dip on the ball. The offside flag goes up nevertheless.

Joao Felix finds the back of the net and equalises for Al-Nassr! Al-Shamat went down under pressure from Angelo, and the ball finds Felix. The Portuguese midfielder hits it first time with his left foot, and it flies past Casteels.

The home side were not happy with Felix's goal as they want a foul for the challenge on Al-Shamat. VAR takes a look at the incident and clears the goal. Martinez, meanwhile, sees yellow for complaining too much.

After four minutes of stoppage time, the referee blows his whistle to bring the first half to an end. Al Qadsiah had at least half-a-dozen chances to score, but it's 1-1 at the break courtesy of Joao Felix's late strike.

The players come out of the tunnel and onto the pitch for the second half. Al Qadsiah take the kick off to get the second 45 minutes underway. No changes at the break for either side as far as I can see.

The referee plays an advantage to allow Al-Nassr to break forward down the left. After a one-two, Angelo cuts in towards the middle of the box, but Nacho is first to the ball. Felix comes sliding in and catches the former Real Madrid defender, and is shown a yellow card.

Al-Juwayr puts the Red Knights ahead again!! Brozovic is caught in posession ahead of his own penalty area, and Quinones wins the ball. The striker does well to cut it across for Al-Juwayr, who slots it into an empty net.

Another chance goes begging for Al-Nassr. The corner from the right picks out Al-Amri, and the centre-back chests it down perfectly. However, he slices the shot miles over the crossbar.

There has been no dropoff in energy levels from Al Qadsiah. The ball is played to Quinones, who is all alone up front and tries to make a dashing run. However, Boushal, who is the last line of defence, makes a terrific sliding tackle to clear the danger.

Quinones makes it 3-1 for Al Qadsiah!! It is incredibly poor defending from the league leaders, who fail to clear the ball from their penalty area after a cut-back from the left. After multiple failed attempts at booting the ball away, it falls to Quinones, who slots it into the bottom corner. That's his 29th goal of the season.

With the clock ticking down, Jorge Jesus turns to his bench to make a triple change for Al-Nassr. Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Sultan Al-Ghannam, and Abdullah Al-Hamdan are the ones coming on, and making way are Coman, Boushal, and Martinez.

After four minutes of stoppage time, the referee blows the whistle to bring the match to an end. It's a disastrous result for Al-Nassr, who not only see their 20-game unbeaten run come to an end, but have given Al-Hilal a lifeline in the title race. The second-placed side remain five points behind but have a game in hand, and play Al-Khaleej on Tuesday.