Ronaldo misses late penalty as Al Nassr crash out of King’s Cup

LondoncTypeface:> Cristiano Ronaldo missed a last-minute penalty as Al Nassr crashed out of the King’s Cup against Al-Taawoun on Tuesday. The 1-0 defeat piled further pressure on manager Stefano Pioli, whose side trail Al-Hilal in the league by six points. They needed a penalty at the death from Anderson Talisca to rescue a point against Al Kholood in their last match on Friday, but Ronaldo could not make himself the hero to keep his side in the cup as he blasted over the bar from 12 yards. Pioli’s side struggled to create in the first half, a good save from goalkeeper Mailson dos Santos denying Ronaldo shortly before half-time, but they were indebted to defender Mohamed Simakan whose last-ditch tackle prevented them from going in behind at the break. And there was little reason for cheer during the second 45 minutes for Pioli. His team fell behind 20 minutes from time when defender Waleed Al-Ahmed darted into the six-yard box to get his head to a corner to send a bullet effort past goalkeeper Bento and make it 1-0. It looked like the chance for redemption had arrived five minutes into stoppage time when Mohammed Maran was brought down inside the box, but a rare lapse from Ronaldo meant Al Nassr crashed out. (PAMedia/dpa)