\n
Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s late efforts were not enough to save Al-Nassr, who were eliminated from the AFC Champions League by Al-Ain on penalties.<\/p>\n
At 1-0 down on aggregate and with home advantage on their side, the onus was on Al-Nassr to make a strong start in front of an expectant crowd. But the hosts were haunted by a familiar face in the first half, with Soufiane Rahimi adding to his decisive goal in the first leg by scoring a scintillating first-half brace.<\/p>\n
Three goals down on aggregate mere minutes from the break, the writing appeared to be on the wall \u2013 until Abdulrahman Ghareeb\u2019s effort in first-half stoppage time gave Al-Nassr life. The 26-year-old winger turned home from close range after Sadio Mane had capitalised on some bizarre decision-making from Al-Ain \u2018keeper Khalid Eisa.<\/p>\n
Hope turned into optimism in the second half when Otavio helped make it 2-2. Eisa was again at fault as he somehow managed to turn the ball into his own net from a tight angle from the Portugese\u2019s shot. Al-Nassr pushed late in regulation time and should have gone ahead earlier than they did.<\/p>\n
Another mistake from Eisa saw him spill the ball directly into Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s path mere yards from goal, but the Portuguese somehow fired wide. His blushes were spared moments later when Alex Telles\u2019 cross-cum-shot from a free-kick bamboozled Eisa, who again didn\u2019t cover himself in glory as Al-Nassr made it 3-2 to take it to extra time.<\/p>\n
The home side\u2019s efforts to push for a winner turned on its head when substitute Ayman Ahmed was sent off for a rash challenge following a VAR review. Mere minutes later Al-Ain scored again through Al Shamsi, but this time it was Al-Nassr \u2018keeper Raghed Najjar who was at fault. He clawed at a tame cross and fumbled it onto his own bar, leaving an easy tap-in for the substitute.<\/p>\n
The topsy-turvy tie wasn\u2019t done there, though. Ronaldo finally had his say, scoring a penalty in the 118th minute to make it 4-3 on the night and send the game to a shoot-out. However, those efforts weren\u2019t enough as Otavio missed the vital spot-kick, as Al-Ain progressed 3-1 on penalties.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s defeat means Al-Nassr are knocked out of the AFC Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the first time since 2018-19.<\/p>\n
While Otavio missed the crucial kick, this was Rahimi\u2019s match \u2013 and tie. The Moroccan forward scored the vital goal in the first leg and his brace in the second should have put Al-Ain in cruise control headed to the semi-finals. But Eisa\u2019s errors proved costly and the away side had to do it the hard way, as Rahimi\u2019s fine individual efforts were cancelled out as Al-Nassr nearly completed a memorable comeback. With eight goals to his name in the competition \u2013 one behind Ronaldo after his late effort on Monday night \u2013 Rahimi has emerged as one of the AFC Champions League\u2019s standout performers this term.<\/p>\n
What a horrible night for the goalkeepers. Ronaldo\u2019s miss was a dreadful one but it was handed to him on a plate by Eisa, who had a game to forget for Al-Ain. He rushed out of his goal for no apparent reason for Al-Nassr\u2019s first, leaving himself horribly out of position, before turning home a completely misdirected shot by Otavio for a dreadful own-goal. Eisa also should have reacted quicker for Telles\u2019 strike for Al-Nassr\u2019s third, even if it was well hit through a crowd of players.<\/p>\n
That said, Eisa was ultimately let off the hook \u2013 unlike Najjar. The Al-Nassr goalkeeper made some good saves in the match but choked at the crucial moment. He snatched at a seemingly harmless cross in extra time and was unfortunate for it to bounce kindly off the bar into Al Shamsi\u2019s path. Not one he\u2019ll want to see back, and he couldn\u2019t make amends in the penalty shoot-out.<\/p>\n
After a hotly-contested battle on Monday which sees Al-Ain progress by the narrowest of margins, Al-Nassr travel to Al-Ahli Saudi in a Pro League fixture on Friday. Ronaldo\u2019s side are currently 12 points off leaders Al-Hilal after 23 matches.<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0<\/strong>goal.com<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s late efforts were not enough to save Al-Nassr, who were eliminated from the AFC Champions League by Al-Ain on penalties. At 1-0 down on aggregate and with home advantage on their side, the onus was on Al-Nassr to make a strong start in front of an expectant crowd. But the hosts were haunted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n
Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s late efforts were not enough to save Al-Nassr, who were eliminated from the AFC Champions League by Al-Ain on penalties. At 1-0 down on aggregate and with home advantage on their side, the onus was on Al-Nassr to make a strong start in front of an expectant crowd. But the hosts were haunted […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-12T10:39:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-12T10:39:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":715,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-12T10:39:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/12\\\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013 - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013 - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s late efforts were not enough to save Al-Nassr, who were eliminated from the AFC Champions League by Al-Ain on penalties. At 1-0 down on aggregate and with home advantage on their side, the onus was on Al-Nassr to make a strong start in front of an expectant crowd. But the hosts were haunted […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-03-12T10:39:29+00:00","author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013","datePublished":"2024-03-12T10:39:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/"},"wordCount":715,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/","name":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013 - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2024-03-12T10:39:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/03\/12\/cristiano-ronaldos-al-nassr-kicked-out-of-asian-champions-league\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s Al Nassr kicked out of Asian Champions League \u2013"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}