Olunga remains positive after Cristiano Ronaldo & Sadio Mane help Al-Nassr edge seven-goal thriller against Al Duhail

© Michael Olunga Facebook.

STARS ABROAD Olunga remains positive after Cristiano Ronaldo & Sadio Mane help Al-Nassr edge seven-goal thriller against Al Duhail

Joel Omotto 10:00 - 25.10.2023

Michael Olunga scored and provided an assist for Al Duhail but it was not enough as Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane secured all three points for Al-Nassr in the Champions League

Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga is keeping faith after his side Al Duhail suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat to a Cristiano Ronaldo-led Al-Nassr in the Asian Champions League on Tuesday night.

Olunga scored one goal and had another ruled out for offside in the entertaining seven-goal thriller in Riyadh as Al-Nassr maintained their 100 per cent record in Group E.

Al-Nassr went ahead through Brazilian Talisca who connected well with Ronaldo’s pass for a 1-0 lead at halftime before Olunga scored what would have been an equaliser nine minutes after the break but the goal was ruled out for offside.

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Sadio Mane made it 2-0 after the Al-Duhail keeper had made a mess of an attempt to gather a cross 11 minutes into the second half before Ronaldo scored a 25-yard screamer with his left foot after the hour mark for a 3-0 lead.

However, Ismaeel Mohammad and captain Almoez Ali gave Al Duhail hope of completing a memorable comeback but Ronaldo fired Al Nassr back into the comfort zone in the 81st minute when he aimed a first-time volley past the Al-Duhail keeper following an angled cross from Sultan Al-Ghannam.

But Al-Duhail hit back again when Olunga scored to close the gap to just one goal once more but it was not enough to rescue a point.

“Great display in a difficult pitch. Fell short at the end but gave it all. We bounce back in the returning fixture Inshallah. Thank you, Lord for the goal and assist. All glory is yours,” Olunga posted on social media after the match.

Al Nassr now have nine points from the first three rounds of fixtures while Iranian side Persepolis have six points after two wins with Al Duhail and Istiklol from Tajikistan on one each.

Olunga and co have a difficult task if they have to get out of the group as they will be required to win all their second round of fixtures to sail through.