Ten-man Al-Nassr advanced to the Saudi Super Cup final after a dramatic 2-1 victory over rivals Al-Ittihad on Tuesday, with new signing João Félix scoring the winning goal after Sadio Mané was sent off in the first half.
Mané went from hero to villain in the space of 15 minutes at the Hong Kong Stadium. The Senegalese forward opened the scoring with a powerful volley in the 10th minute, but was shown a straight red card for a reckless high challenge in the 25th minute following a VAR review.
In between those key moments, Dutch winger Steven Bergwijn had equalised for Al-Ittihad, finishing off a swift counter-attack in the 16th minute.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Al-Nassr secured the victory in the second half. Félix, a summer signing, ran onto a through ball from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 61st minute and finished calmly past the goalkeeper for what proved to be the decisive goal. The Portuguese forward thought he had a second goal moments later, but his powerful strike was disallowed for a foul in the build-up.
Mané’s dismissal continued a worrying trend of indiscipline for Al-Nassr in the competition, marking the third consecutive edition in which one of their players has been sent off.
Al-Nassr will now face the winner of Wednesday’s second semi-final between Al-Qadsiah and Al-Ahli.
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