Cristiano Ronaldo takes career goal tally to 915 after brace in Al-Nassr victory

Cristiano Ronaldo took his career goals total to 915 as he netted twice in Al-Nassr’s 2-0 win over Damac in the Saudi Pro League.

The victory moves Stefano Pioli’s team up to third in the table, but they still trail leaders Al-Ittihad by five points having now played a game more.

It brought welcome relief to the Italian coach following last week’s defeat to Al Qadsiyah which had put pressure on the former AC Milan boss, coming weeks after they were eliminated from the King’s Cup by Al-Taawoun.

That game ended in a rare Ronaldo penalty miss in stoppage time, but there was no such drama for club or player.

Ronaldo’s tally for the club now stands at 79 in 88 games as he inched closer to an unprecedented thousandth goal.

The deadlock was broken after 17 minutes against Damac, defender Abdelkader Bedrane handling the ball inside the box giving Ronaldo the chance to crash the ball home from penalty spot, which he duly took.

Bedrane’s game went from bad to worse when he was sent off in the 57th minute for a bad foul on Al-Nassr’s Mohamed Simakan, leaving the visitors with a mountain to climb.

What little jeopardy remained was extinguished when Ronaldo bagged his and Al-Nassr’s second 11 minutes from the end.

Full-back Nawaf Boushal found his captain with a smart pull-back after an overlapping run down the left, allowing Ronaldo to run on to it and hammer the ball in left-footed for 2-0.

Ronaldo now has nine league goals this season, but the challenge for the team to catch the leaders remains a tall one.

Laurent Blanc’s Al-Ittihad will restore their eight-point lead over Al Nassr if they beat Al-Ettifaq on Saturday.