Missing Cristiano Ronaldo and Aymeric Laporte, Al Nassr found the going tough at Al-Madina International Stadium and in the end, had to settle for a point.
It was a nervy start for the Saudi side with goalkeeper Bento’s misplaced pass going straight to Bassam Shakir but luckily for Al Nassr, Mohamed Simakan managed to block the Al Shorta midfielder’s shot.
Luis Castro’s men recovered to strike the first blow in the 14th minute after Sultan Al Ghannam latched onto Otavio’s delightful pass, with the Al Nassr captain calmly picking his spot in the bottom corner.
The home side found its way back into the game in the 24th minute when Mohammed Dawood benefited from a mix-up between Simakan and Salem Al Nadji to plant a precise shot into the top corner.
Al Shorta was then awarded a penalty in the 40th minute after Simakan blocked Dawood’s run, however, it was changed to a free-kick after a VAR check deemed the infringement occurred outside the box.
Al Nassr started the better of the two sides in the second half, a first-time pass from Sadio Mane in the 50th minute found Anderson Taslica in space and the Brazilian’s shot required a fingertip save from Ahmed Basil.
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Talisca again caused concern to Al Shorta’s defence when his powerful long range shot took a deflection off Abdurazzaq Qasim to leave Basil stranded, only for the ball to sail narrowly wide.
Despite being on the back foot and forced to defend in numbers, Al Shorta did well to deny further opportunities for Al Nassr to start their campaign with a solid point.
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