Al Nassr Thrashed 4-0 by Al Ain in Asian Champions League
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr were torn apart on Tuesday night, thrashed 4-0 by Al Ain as their Asian Champions League Elite campaign began in brutal fashion.
It was Ronaldo’s heaviest defeat since that chaotic August afternoon in 2022, when Manchester United were routed 4-0 by Brentford. This time, the stage was different, but the scoreline just as stark.
Al Ain run riot
Al Nassr, still chasing a first continental crown, never settled. Al Ain, twice champions of Asia, smelled vulnerability and went straight for it.
The breakthrough came after 25 minutes. Houssine Rahimi found space and punished the Saudi champions, his finish putting the hosts in front and setting the tone for the night. Al Nassr, sluggish and disjointed, offered little in response.
The pressure built. Just after the hour mark, Houssine Rahimi struck again, doubling the lead and tightening Al Ain’s grip on the game. Al Nassr, chasing shadows by then, looked rattled.
The damage kept coming.
With 18 minutes left, Soufiane Rahimi, Houssine’s brother, made it three, capping a dominant display from the home side’s attack. Al Nassr’s back line, usually so composed, simply couldn’t live with the movement and intensity.
Soufiane wasn’t done. He then turned provider, sliding in a pass for Georgios Giakoumakis, who slammed home the fourth. By that point, it had turned into a humiliation.
Ronaldo denied, Postecoglou takes the blame
Ronaldo, now 41 and hunting career goal No. 980, had one real opening to salvage something personal from the wreckage. A late free kick, his trademark stage. He struck it cleanly enough, but Khalid Eisa read it and saved, underlining Al Ain’s authority on the night.
After the final whistle, Ange Postecoglou didn’t deflect or disguise the scale of the setback.
“The players gave everything they had, and I do not place any responsibility on them ... and the responsibility is my responsibility,” the Al Nassr coach said. “Al Nassr as a whole was poor.”
The numbers back him up. The Saudi Pro League champions now have just one win in their last four matches, momentum draining away at a key point in the season.
Mixed fortunes for Saudi clubs
Across the region, it was a more uneven opening round for Saudi sides.
Al Hilal, four-time winners of the competition, did their part. They edged Qatar’s Al Gharafa 2-1, a game that flared into chaos when both teams were reduced to 10 men. Rúben Neves kept his nerve from the spot late in the first half, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic finished the job after the break.
Al Ahli and Al Ittihad couldn’t quite find that extra gear. Both had to settle for 1-1 draws, Al Ahli held by Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan and Al Ittihad frustrated by Qatar’s Al Shamal.
Al Qadsiah, by contrast, started with a statement of their own, grinding out a 2-1 win over UAE’s Al Wasl.
For all the Saudi investment and star power, the opening chapter of this Asian campaign belongs to Al Ain and the Rahimi brothers — and to a 4-0 scoreline that leaves Ronaldo and Al Nassr with serious questions to answer.
