Al Nassr, the Saudi Arabian club built around Cristiano Ronaldo, lost 4-0 away to Al Ain on Tuesday in their opening match of Group B in the AFC Champions League Elite. Ronaldo, Joao Felix and Samu Costa all started for the visitors.
The match at the Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium in the United Arab Emirates was dominated from start to finish by the home side, who drew their inspiration from Moroccan brothers El Houssine Rahimi and Soufiane Rahimi. Between them, the pair were involved in all four goals.
How the goals went in
El Houssine Rahimi, 24, opened the scoring in the 25th minute and doubled Al Ain's lead in the 63rd. His older brother Soufiane, 30, made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute before setting up Greek forward Georgios Giakoumakis to complete the scoring in the 85th.
Portuguese players on both sides
Portuguese winger Rafael Rodrigues, who came through Benfica's youth system, started for Al Ain, the reigning United Arab Emirates champions, and was substituted in the 69th minute. On the Saudi side, Ronaldo and Felix played the full 90 minutes, while Samu Costa was taken off in the 74th minute.
The AFC Champions League Elite is Asia's leading club competition, run by the Asian Football Confederation and structured, like Europe's Champions League, around a league phase followed by knockout rounds. Al Nassr, the reigning Saudi Pro League champions, have built one of the highest-profile squads in Asian football since signing Ronaldo in January 2023.
A rough week for Al Nassr
The heavy defeat came just days after Al Nassr picked up their first draw of the Saudi league season, against Al Khaleej, coached by Jose Gomes, over the weekend. With seven rounds played in the domestic league, Al Nassr have also already suffered one defeat this season.
Despite pushing forward late in the game against Al Ain, Al Nassr could not find a way past the home defence and finished without a goal, opening their Asian Champions League campaign with a heavy loss.
