Tomorrow marks Al Nassr’s best possible chance to win a trophy this season. They face off against league leaders Al Hilal in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final. This season the Cristiano Ronaldo-led side has been defeated twice by Al Hilal. As such, the story was that Luis Castro had arranged an intense ‘program’ to finally get the better of their opponents. However, in a new development, the Portuguese coach has confirmed that his plan has been foiled.

In the pre-match interview, Castro confirmed, “Our preparation for the match is the same as our preparation for league matches because the time between matches is short.” It is worth noting that Al Nassr played a game recently on April 6th against Damac. So, they genuinely are short on time to test a new approach. Regardless the situation is not ideal for Castro as he previously said, “We have prepared a program to prepare the players for the Super Cup.” 

However, what works in Al Nassr’s favor is the rich form of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar recently scored back-to-back hattricks against Al Tai & Abha respectively. Moreover, the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner was benched in Al Nassr’s game against Damac. The reason was to keep the captain fresh against Al Hilal. Yet, even with a fully firing CR7, Al Hilal won’t be an easy game.

In the last 6 games of this fixture, Al Hilal has come out on top four times! Even in the current campaign, they are undefeated! As such Jorge Jesus’ side is the favorites in the tie. Yet, there is one factor that will greatly boost Cristiano Ronaldo & Co’s chances of victory.

Al Hilal superstar to miss the clash against Cristiano Ronaldo & Co

In the Spanish Super Cup Semi, Al Hilal will be without Aleksander Mitrovic. The Serbian attacker injured his hamstring in March against Al Shabab.  Per reports, he will be out of action for nearly a month and a half! With 22 goals this season, Mitrovic has had an impressive campaign and was second only to Cristiano Ronaldo in the goal-scoring charts. As such, his absence is a huge blow to Jorge Jesus & Co.

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Al Nassr’s reference will be their Arab Club Champions Cup final game last year. This was their last victory against Al Hilal. Cristiano Ronaldo led from the front with a brace and eventually secured his first trophy with the club. Can CR7 replicate the effort in the upcoming knockout tie? Let us know below.

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