Ronaldo, who turned 40 earlier this year, converted a second-half penalty to double Nassr’s lead after Brazilian forward Angelo Gabriel had opened the scoring before the break. Neom’s hopes of a late comeback were briefly revived when Ahmed Abdo pulled one back in the 84th minute, but Joao Felix sealed the result moments later with his 10th league goal of the campaign.

The visitors’ task was made harder when Luciano Rodriguez was sent off for an off-the-ball elbow on Nassr full-back Nawaf Boushal early in the second half, leaving Neom with 10 men for the final 40 minutes.

Ronaldo’s strike marked another milestone his 100th goal involvement in Saudi football, comprising 83 goals and 17 assists in just 85 matches since joining Al Nassr. The Portuguese star has now scored 953 senior goals across his career as he edges closer to the unprecedented 1,000-goal landmark.

The win keeps Al Nassr top of the table with a perfect record of eight wins from eight, three points clear of nearest challengers Al Taawoun. The chasing side continued their fine form with a 5-2 victory over Al Fateh, featuring a hat-trick from Roger Martinez.

Elsewhere, Riyad Mahrez struck the winner as Al Ahli edged Al Ittihad 1-0 in the Jeddah derby. The result lifted Al Ahli to fifth in the standings, while defending champions Ittihad remain winless in their last five league outings and sit eighth with 11 points.

On Friday, Al Hilal stayed in touch with the leaders thanks to a 4-2 triumph over Al Najma, powered by a double from Salem Al Dawsari and second-half goals from Theo Hernandez and Ruben Neves.

With the season now approaching its midway stage, Al Nassr remain the team to beat and Ronaldo shows no signs of slowing down.