Al Nassr looked destined for a frustrating night after losing their goalkeeper to a straight red card inside 12 minutes, falling 2-0 behind before half-time and then losing Cristiano Ronaldo at the break.Instead, they somehow turned the game completely on its head.Sadio Mané scored twice and João Félix played a central role in the comeback as Al Nassr overturned the deficit to beat Al Ettifaq 3-2 away from home, maintaining their perfect start to the Saudi Roshn League season after three rounds.It was the kind of game that seemed to have slipped away from them long before the final whistle. Somehow, they kept finding a way back.
Everything went wrong for Al Nassr early
Al Nassr had started positively, but their entire game plan was thrown into chaos in the 12th minute.Bento rushed out of his goal to deal with Moussa Dembélé, but brought the Al Ettifaq forward down outside the penalty area. The referee immediately produced a straight red card, leaving Al Nassr with 10 men for almost the entire match.With no choice but to reorganise, Al Nassr brought on young goalkeeper Abdulrahman Al Otaibi to replace winger Ángelo Gabriel, sacrificing an attacking player simply to fill the vacant position between the posts.That was already a huge problem. The next one was putting the ball in the net.Al Ettifaq began to take advantage of the numerical superiority and eventually broke through in the 31st minute. Ondrej Duda collected the ball around the edge of the area and fired into the top corner, putting the hosts 1-0 ahead.Al Nassr survived until the final moments of the half, but then conceded again.In the third minute of stoppage time, Álvaro Medrán received a pass from Yasser Al-Shammari and unleashed a powerful effort from outside the box. The ball went through Al Otaibi’s hands and into the net, leaving Al Nassr 2-0 down at the interval.At that point, the visitors had a man fewer, a two-goal deficit and a makeshift goalkeeper.Then came another major change.
Ronaldo comes off as Al Nassr gamble on the comeback
Cristiano Ronaldo was replaced at half-time by Abdullah Al-Khaibari, with Al Nassr prioritising defensive balance after Bento’s dismissal.That meant the responsibility for finding a way back increasingly fell on Sadio Mané and João Félix.And they nearly got the comeback started early in the second half.In the 53rd minute, Iñigo Martínez came within inches of reducing the deficit when his effort struck the post. João Félix then tested the Al Ettifaq goalkeeper, who managed to keep the Portuguese forward’s effort out.Al Nassr were still alive, but they needed something special.They eventually got it in the 74th minute.
João Félix and Mané turn the game around
Félix picked up the ball and threaded a perfectly weighted pass through to Mané, who burst into the box and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper.The Senegal international stayed composed and drilled a right-footed finish into the far corner.Suddenly it was 2-1.And Al Nassr were not finished.Just three minutes later, Félix delivered again, this time from a corner. His cross found Abdulelah Al-Amri, who rose to head the ball home from close range.Two goals in three minutes had completely transformed the match.From 2-0 down and a man short, Al Nassr had somehow dragged themselves level.The hosts’ goalkeeper then kept Al Ettifaq alive by saving from Mané in the 82nd minute, while Al Nassr continued to push forward despite their numerical disadvantage.The visitors even had two late offside calls go against them in the 89th and 90th minutes.But there was still time for one final attack.
Mané completes the unbelievable turnaround
With the game entering the 90th minute, Sami Al-Najei drove Al Nassr forward on a rapid counter-attack.He eventually slipped the ball into Mané’s path in the middle of the box.Mané did the rest.The forward fired past the goalkeeper to complete his brace and put Al Nassr 3-2 ahead.Al Ettifaq had led by two goals. Al Nassr had been reduced to 10 men in the 12th minute. Ronaldo had then been substituted at half-time.None of it mattered in the end.The final whistle confirmed one of the most dramatic comebacks of the early Saudi Roshn League season.
A perfect start for Al Nassr
The victory moved Al Nassr onto nine points from their opening three matches, temporarily putting them at the top of the table.Al Ettifaq, meanwhile, remained on six points in sixth place.For Al Nassr, though, the significance of the result goes beyond the table. They had to spend almost the entire match with 10 men, lost their starting goalkeeper, conceded twice before half-time and then continued without Ronaldo after the interval.Yet Mané, Félix and the rest of the team refused to let the game go.Félix supplied the decisive creativity, Al-Amri provided the equaliser and Mané produced the finishing touch, twice.It was supposed to be the night Al Nassr ran out of answers.Instead, they found three.
