Cristiano Ronaldo suffered his first Saudi Pro League defeat on Thursday as Al Ittihad claimed a 1-0 win to replace Al Nassr at the top of the table.

Al Nassr had not lost any of their five league games since Ronaldo’s debut on February 3, drawing his first match before racking up four successive wins.

But that run ended against their title rivals at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.

Romarinho got the game’s only goal in the 80th minute, rounding off a devastating counter-attack.

The forward brilliantly brought down Ahmed Sharahili’s right-wing delivery on the edge of the penalty box, with his first touch taking a defender out of the game.

He then applied a cool finish which sparked jubilant celebrations.

Al Nassr coach Rudi Garcia tried to focus on the positives, however.

“We are disappointed because we did not deserve to lose,” he said. Al Ittihad scored a goal the way they like, on the counter-attack. The league is still long. We are now behind Al Ittihad by a point,” said Garcia. “I am happy with my team. We played in a difficult stadium in front of a strong audience, and yet we played with a wonderful personality.”

(dpa/NAN)