As both teams emerged from the tunnel, Ronaldo tempted fate by touching the Saudi Super Cup, and it proved to be a kiss of death.
The Portugal superstar seemed unfazed in the game, initially, and opened the scoring with a classic, opportunistic finish, sticking his boot out to tap home from close-range after a clever cut-back, but he would soon betray his own frustrations with his team-mates during a dismal second-half.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic kickstarted a remarkable comeback for Hilal in the 55th minute as he burst into the box after a smart one-two and slammed an effort into the roof of the net.
And Aleksandar Mitrovic then scored twice in six minutes in to give his side a comfortable 3-1 lead, first thumping a header into the back of the net, and then finishing from inside the six-yard box after Hilal again got in behind Nassr’s backline.
Malcom added a fourth in the 72nd minute. The Brazilian robbed goalkeeper Bento after a poor touch and tapped into an empty net.
THE MVP
Mitrovic’s brace was a gamechanger. With the final finely poised, the ex-Fulham man powered home two finishes in quick succession to give Hilal a 3-1 lead and essentially put the fixture to bed. The defending and goalkeeping from Nassr was appalling, but you can only score against the opposition put in front of you and Mitrovic did exactly that.
