RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice on Friday to give Al-Nassr a vital 2-0 win over Damac that keeps the Riyadh hosts in the title race.
It was far from a vintage performance by the Riyadh club but they move on to 25 points from 12 games, three behind Al-Hilal and five behind Al-Ittihad, with the top two teams in action on Saturday.
Ronaldo went closest early on, heading over from a good position but had an even better one after 16 minutes as Al-Nassr were awarded a penalty following a handball in the area from Abdelkader Bedrane.
Ronaldo stuttered and delayed his run-up before drilling a low shot into the bottom-left corner beyond the diving Amin Al-Bukhari to show his famous “Siu” celebration for the 57th time in 58 league games for the Yellows.
Al-Nassr should have extended their lead on numerous occasions. Angelo rolled two shots just wide of the post while Sadio Mane had a close-range effort saved by Al-Bukhari after being put through on goal by a Ronaldo backheel in the area.
At the break, Nassr coach Stefano Pioli would have been frustrated by his team not getting a second, and after play resumed, the Italian would have been unhappy at his time looking sloppy at the back. More than once Bento had to save the team from defensive laxness.
Some of the pressure was removed after 55 minutes as Damac were reduced to ten men. The unfortunate Bedrane saw red for a dangerous challenge on Mohamed Simakan.
The visitors still managed to cause problems for the star-studded hosts but Ronaldo sealed the win with 10 minutes remaining. Nawaf Boushal got to the byline on the left and provided the five-time Ballon D’Or winner with the perfect pullback and the Portuguese star did the rest, firing a left-footed shot powerfully home. It was his ninth league goal of the season so far.
Al-Qadsia stay fourth behind Al-Nassr on goal difference with a 1-0 win at home to Al-Khaleej, a fifth league victory in succession for the newly promoted team.

LONDON: Liverpool are 100 percent on top of the Champions League after dumping title holders Real Madrid into an almost unbelievable 24th place in the 36-team standings on Wednesday.

No one felt the embarrassment of Madrid’s 2-0 loss at Anfield more than Kylian Mbappe, the superstar added in the offseason by the storied club that also was European champion against Liverpool in the finals of 2022 and 2018.

Mbappe had a penalty saved in the second half and was earlier dumped on his behind by Conor Bradley’s superb tackle in an instant viral moment.

Only Liverpool have started the new Champions League format with five wins and first-year coach Arne Slot’s team are two points clear of Inter Milan. Barcelona are third, trailing Liverpool by three points.

Madrid are, remarkably, with three rounds left just one place above being eliminated. The top eight teams at the end of January go direct to the round of 16 in March, and teams placed from ninth to 24th enter a round of two-leg playoffs in February.

“(This) doesn’t change much, because even with a win it was going to be tough to secure a top-eight finish,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. ”It was a fair result.”

Monaco missed a chance to go second in the table, giving up a lead playing with 10 men from the 58th minute in a 3-2 loss at home to Benfica. Swiss forward Zeki Amdouni scored the winning goal in the 88th.

Borussia Dortmund, the beaten finalists against Madrid in May, are up to fourth place after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0. Champions League standout Jamie Gittens now has four goals in five games, curling a rising shot in the 41st to open the scoring in Croatia.

The best comeback was at PSV Eindhoven, where the home team trailed Shakhtar Donetsk by two goals in the 87th minute before a 3-2 win was sealed by US forward Ricardo Pepi’s goal deep in stoppage time.

US defender Cameron Carter-Vickers scored an embarrassing own goal for Celtic — playing a no-look pass far beyond goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel — in a 1-1 draw with Club Brugge.

“One of those things,” Schmeichel said. “Cam gets pressed and he hasn’t heard me shout that I’m not in (goal).”

Congo teammates Ngal’Ayel Mukau and Silas impressed in wins for Lille and Red Star Belgrade.

Mukau scored twice in 12th-place Lille’s 2-1 win at Bologna and Silas leveled for Red Star in a 5-1 rout of Stuttgart, though he barely celebrated his goal. Silas is on loan with the Serbian champion from Stuttgart.

Aston Villa’s 0-0 draw with Juventus was preserved by an excellent save by Emiliano Martinez, the World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper, diving low to push away a header from Francisco Conceiçao.

Bradley beats Mbappe

Liverpool’s stand-in right back Bradley was a standout Wednesday, denying Mbappe at high speed in a signature defensive play in the 32nd.

The 21-year-old Northern Ireland defender, deputizing for fit-again Trent Alexander-Arnold, joined the attack in the 52nd to play a key pass returning the ball to Alexis Mac Allister who scored the opening goal.

After Mbappe’s penalty was pushed away by goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher in the 61st, Liverpool star Mo Salah missed with his spot-kick in the 70th, before substitute Cody Gakpo sealed the win with a header in the 77th.

Madrid now have lost three of five games after defeats at Lille and at home to AC Milan. The record 15-time European champions have another tough trip next, at fifth-place Atalanta on Dec. 10. On the same date, Liverpool are at 30th-place Girona and look to be cruising into the round of 16.

“You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League so many times,” Liverpool coach Slot said of Madrid. “They were a pain for Liverpool for many years too.”

First wins, first points

Red Star Belgrade and Sturm Graz ended four-game losing runs to get their first points and wins.

Red Star rallied against Stuttgart after the German team led in the fifth minute. The 1991 European Cup winner’s goal to level the game in the 12th was scored by on-loan Silas. He held up his hands as if in apology as part of a low-key celebration.

Sturm Graz won 1-0 against Girona, the Spanish newcomers to European competitions. It was the Austrian champions’ first Champions League game since coach Christian Ilzer left to join Hoffenheim.