Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as his Al-Nassr side beat Al-Kholood 5-3 in the Saudi Pro League, infohub.kz reports.
All three of the striker's goals came in the second half, within a span of 15 minutes. He now has 985 career goals and needs 15 more to reach the 1,000 mark.
Al-Kholood opened the scoring through Julien Domingues in the 16th minute. Al-Nassr responded with goals from Gabriel Ângelo and Sadio Mané, but Loïc Essomba equalized before the break to make it 2-2.
In the second half, Ronaldo decided the outcome. He put his team ahead in the 66th minute, extended the lead in the 72nd, and completed his hat-trick in the 81st. The Portuguese could have finished the match with four goals, but his first-half strike was disallowed for offside.
In stoppage time, Domingues converted a penalty to set the final score at 5-3 in favor of Al-Nassr.
This season, Ronaldo has scored seven goals in ten matches. He shares third place in the scoring charts with Mateo Retegui of Al-Qadsiah. Ahead of them are Tijjani Reijnders, also of Al-Qadsiah, with eight goals, and Al-Ahli forward Ivan Toney, who has scored 12.
Defending champions Al-Nassr trail Al-Qadsiah on goal difference. The challenger thrashed Al-Riyadh 6-0, with Reijnders scoring a hat-trick in that match.