RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo opened his scoring account for the year 2025 with a penalty kick in a 3-1 win with Al-Nassr early this morning.

The 39-year-old veteran striker and his teammates enjoyed a winter break and returned to action in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) as they look to close the gap on league leaders Al-Ittihad.

It took only 42 minutes for the former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker to score in his first match after the break.

Their opponents Al-Akhdoud, however, surprised them by taking the lead after six minutes before Al-Nassr responded through former Liverpool winger Sadio Mane, who then scored the third goal.

After Mane’s equaliser, Al-Nassr were awarded a penalty and Ronaldo calmly finished it, putting his team in front.

The Portuguese striker fired a powerful shot into the right corner of the goal before celebrating with his teammates.

By scoring that goal, it was the 24th consecutive year that Ronaldo has scored in professional football since his first in 2002.

Ronaldo was recently reported to have asked Al-Nassr to sign Casemiro from Manchester United in what is seen as a critical factor in determining his future.

The Portuguese icon is in the final six months of his £175 million-a-year contract with the SPL club and is considering a move to another club.

He and Casemiro won 12 trophies together at Real Madrid, including four Champions Leagues and two La Ligas, while they also teamed up at Manchester United under Erik ten Hag.

RIYADH: An extra-time goal from Tammy Abraham completed AC Milan’s comeback to win the Italian Super Cup after beating Inter Milan 3-2 in Riyadh.

Inter, who led by two goals early in the game, were denied the Super Cup for the fourth time in a row, allowing Milan to equal Inter’s eight titles in the competition.

The victory at the King Saud University Stadium saw new Milan manager Serge Conceicao lift the trophy in just his second match with the Serie A club.

Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring for Inter in the first half, followed by Mehdi Taremi’s goal two minutes after the break.

Conceicao brought on Rafael Leao who won a free kick and was converted by Theo Hernandez. Christian Pulisic equalised with 10 minutes remaining.

The match looked set to be decided on penalties but Abraham surprised Inter with the winning goal in extra time.

LIVERPOOL: Fans accused Liverpool of copying Arsenal’s tactics when taking corner kicks in the win over Leicester City.

The Reds widened the gap at the top of the Premier League after coming back to beat The Foxes 3-1 at Anfield.

Observers who watched the match claimed that Arne Slot’s team’s corner kick routine resembled Arsenal’s tactics coached by Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners are considered set piece experts when they scored 22 goals from corner kicks since the start of last season.

The north London club often places players in the back row of defense and starts taking their place in front of the goal when the kick is taken.

The situation was the same as what Liverpool did when they played against Leicester, but it didn’t produce results.

One Arsenal fan wrote on page X: “Liverpool fans criticize Arsenal’s corners every day, but end up trying to imitate them and making it impossible to score.”

Meanwhile Slot urged Liverpool to use Manchester City’s decline in performance as a warning that their comfortable position at the top of the league will be lost if they are not careful.

“If you’ve been in this game for a long time, you know that when a rival has 20 games remaining, you don’t look at the league standings.

“Just a month ago we were one eye behind City and look what’s happening now.

“It can happen to any team. It’s still too early to celebrate. You were with me in all the previous games and it wasn’t an easy win.

“He showed how difficult it is to win even if you have all the players. We just need to focus on one game at a time,” said Slot.

LONDON: Arne Slot urged “extraordinary” Liverpool not to let up on their challenge after the Premier League (EPL) leaders hammered Tottenham 6-3 to move four points clear at the top of the league.

Slot considered Liverpool’s big win in north London earlier this morning as their best performance on the opposing field since he arrived from Feyenoord to replace Jurgen Klopp at the end of last season.

Mohamed Salah was the instigator of the big win with two goals and two assists, while Luis Diaz also scored two goals in addition to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

The Slots have won 21 of their 25 matches in all competitions this season, an impressive run that sees them well placed to win the league championship for the first time since 2020, as well as competing in the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.

However, despite their impressive performance, Slot was disappointed when Liverpool scored two goals through goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke, so asked his troops to remain focused until the last minute of each match.

“He was very good. Maybe he was our best performance away from home, although I also liked what I saw at Manchester United,” said Slot, referring to the 3-0 win at Old Trafford last September.

“Until the 60th minute to the 65th minute, I was really excited by what I saw. Of course we were very trapped when we made a move from the bottom and it led to a goal for Tottenham.

“I think if we go back to the dugout with a 2-1 lead, it wouldn’t do justice to the chances we had. That’s why I’m a bit happy with the fact we blew out a 3-1 lead.

“Then 4-1, 5-1, extraordinary performances, but then you also see, no matter how high quality you have, if they think they don’t need to run any further in this league and especially against Tottenham, because they are too good with the ball, they started creating chances.”

Liverpool’s position at the top of the league at Christmas was guaranteed before kick-off when second-placed Chelsea were tied pointless by Everton.