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Sadio Mane scored twice in the last twenty minutes as ten-man Al Nassr came from 2-0 down to beat Al Ettifaq 3-2 in Dammam. Goalkeeper Bento was sent off in the 12th minute, after which Ondrej Duda and Alvaro Medran put the hosts two ahead. Abdulelah Al-Amri’s header levelled it before Mane won it in the 90th.
Dammam, Saudi Arabia: They lost their goalkeeper inside twelve minutes. They went two behind. They took off Cristiano Ronaldo at half-time. And then they won.
Al Nassr’s third match of the season at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium was, for an hour, a demonstration of everything that can go wrong. It finished as the comeback of the young Saudi Pro League campaign.
Down to Ten, Then Down by Two
Bento’s dismissal in the 12th minute left Ange Postecoglou’s side a man short with almost the entire match to play, and Al Ettifaq took full advantage.
Ondrej Duda finished clinically in the 31st minute, the goal confirmed by VAR. Deep into first-half stoppage time, Alvaro Medran latched onto a pass from Yasser Al-Shammari and struck from outside the box into the top corner. Two-nil at the break, and Arthur Papas’s side well on top.
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Ronaldo, making his first start of the season after scoring off the bench against Al Riyadh, did not reappear. Abdullah Al-Khaibari came on in his place.
Twenty Minutes That Changed It
Al Nassr’s response began with near misses. Inigo Martinez struck the post in the 53rd minute. Joao Felix was denied by the Al Ettifaq goalkeeper.
Then Felix turned provider. In the 74th he threaded a pass through to Mane, who burst into the box and drilled a right-footed finish into the far corner. Three minutes later his corner found Abdulelah Al-Amri, whose close-range header made it 2-2.
Al Ettifaq’s goalkeeper saved from Mane again in the 82nd, and Al-Alami was flagged offside twice in the closing minutes. The winner, when it came, arrived on the break: Sami Al-Najei drove a rapid counter-attack in the 90th minute and slipped the ball to Mane, who fired home from the middle of the box. VAR checked it. The goal stood.
What It Means
Al Nassr move to nine points from three matches and, temporarily, to the top of the table. Al Ettifaq stay on six and drop to sixth.
Both sides had come into the night with maximum points from their opening two fixtures, and both are managed by new appointments — Postecoglou at Al Nassr, Papas at Al Ettifaq. Al Nassr have now won all three, and this was the first that required anything of them.
Score: Al Ettifaq 2 (Ondrej Duda 31′, Alvaro Medran 45+3′) Al Nassr 3 (Sadio Mane 74′, 90′, Abdulelah Al-Amri 77′)
Red card: Bento (Al Nassr) 12′
Half-time: Al Ettifaq 2-0 Al Nassr
Venue: Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam
