Al Nassr vs Al Hilal won a penalty shootout 5-4 to decide a final that finished 1-1 after extra time in Jeddah.
After his Al-Nassr club lost the King’s Cup final to Al-Hilal on Friday, Cristiano Ronaldo sobbed as he exited the pitch, capping a second consecutive Saudi Arabian season without winning any significant hardware.
Al-Hilal prevailed 5-4 in a penalty shootout to settle a 1-1 match that went into overtime in Jeddah. At King Abdullah Sports City, Ronaldo—who signed with Al-Nassr in December 2022—fell to the ground in anguish and was comforted by teammates.
The loss came just four days after the end of a Saudi Pro League season in which Al-Nassr finished second, 14 points behind Al-Hilal. There was some consolation then as Ronaldo scored twice to set a new league record of 35 goals in a season.
There was no such comfort this time at the end of a tempestuous encounter that saw two goals and three red cards.
After seven minutes, Aleksandar Mitrovic headed the Al-Hilal goal. When custodian David Ospina, formerly of Arsenal and Napoli, was sent off for handling the ball beyond the area early in the second half, things grew worse for Al-Nassr.
After 86 minutes, Ali Al-Bulaihi was sent off for what appeared to be a headbutt on Sami Al-Najei, reducing Al-Hilal to 10 men as well.
Ayman Yahya headed Al-Nassr level shortly after.
Al-Hilal had another defender sent off in the 91st minute after Kalidou Koulibaly, signed from Chelsea last summer, received a second yellow card.
There were no goals in extra time and the final went to a shootout. Ruben Neves missed Hilal’s first attempt as did former Manchester United defender Alex Telles for Al-Nassr.
Ronaldo, who earlier hit the post with a spectacular overhead kick, converted his penalty but could only watch as Bounou, a hero of Morocco’s march to the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup, saved twice, the first from Ali Al-Hassan and then from Al-Nemer.
The saves gave Hilal an 11th King’s Cup triumph while Ronaldo and his team will have to wait until next season.
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