Cristiano Ronaldo rolls back the years! Saudi Pro League winners & losers as Al-Nassr's superstar steps up again while record-breaking Al-Hilal hit nine ahead of crunch title clash

Though Al-Ettifaq find themselves languishing in seventh place in the league, there is no doubt that the club's summer signings have all made a big impact for Steven Gerrard's side and are not the reason for their disappointing league position.

One of the most impressive has been Georginio Wijnaldum, who has now scored six in all competitions after he opened the scoring against Al-Ittihad from close range.

Since leaving Liverpool in 2021, Wijnaldum's career has been defined by injuries and underwhelming performances while at Paris Saint-Germain and Roma, but the Dutchman looks to be getting back to his best in the Middle East.

There was a real belief that Karim Benzema would finally explode in the Pro League after Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked by Al-Ittihad, and the early signs were good after he netted a hat-trick in the final game before the international break.

However, if his performance against Al-Ettifaq on Friday is anything to go by, then that might not be the case. In Marcelo Gallardo's first game in charge of the defending champions, Benzema looked off the pace throughout, and it was left to his strike partner, Abderrazak Hamdallah, to rescue a point.

That said, Ittihad do have a relatively kind run of fixtures coming up ahead of the Club World Cup, and Benzema will be hoping to wrack up the goals and fire himself back into the form against some of the Pro League's lesser lights.

Cristiano Ronaldo is at an age now where he very rarely dominates for a full 90 minutes anymore, but such is the Portuguese legend's talent, he can still be the defining presence in a match in which he is largely quiet.

That was certainly the case in Al-Nassr's win over Al-Akhdoud on Friday, as the five-time Ballon d'Or winner was relatively anonymous for the first hour, before producing two stunning moments of quality to ensure everyone left the game talking about Ronaldo's brilliance.

Of his two goals, the best was his outstanding lob from almost 40 yards that secured the 3-0 victory and took his Pro League tally for the season to 15 from just 13 games, and leaves him four clear in the race for the Golden Boot.

With Al-Nassr having already won and knowing they couldn't afford to slip up ahead of next week's top-of-the-table clash with Ronaldo and co, Al-Hilal might have felt some pressure despite Saturday's opponents Al-Hazm languishing in the relegation zone.

However, if they did, it didn't show, as Jorge Jesus' side ran out 9-0 winners to record the biggest margin of victory in Pro League history.

A number of players starred for the league leaders, with Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring for the fifth game in a row, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic returning from injury with a goal and an assist, and winger Michael providing two assists in a bright performance.

It was Brazilian forward Malcom, though, who ended up grabbing the headlines by netting his second league hat-trick of the season as Neymar's compatriot again ensured that the injured former PSG star would not be missed.

Al-Taawoun have been one of the stories of the Pro League season after the minnows threatened to challenge some of the richest clubs in the world for the title, but it seems their dreams of a fairy-tale campaign are slowly slipping away.

All seemed to be going well early on against Al-Riyadh on Friday as the hosts took a 1-0 lead, but once Musa Barrow missed from the penalty spot early in the second half, things began to unravel.

Abdulfattah Adam was sent off in the 62nd minute before the visitors scored twice, including a penalty in the 10th minute of stoppage-time, to condemn Taawoun to a second successive defeat, and stretched their winless run to five games as they continue to slide out of the title reckoning.

Al-Riyadh's wasn't the only stoppage-time penalty of the round, however, as Al-Tai also netted from the spot deep into added-time in their epic come-from-behind win over Al-Raed.

Tai were 3-1 down after 90 minutes, but somehow fought their way back into the game, with former Atletico Madrid forward Bernard Mensah netting the equaliser from the spot in the 99th minute for his second goal of the game, and seventh of the season.

It was then left to Virgil Misidjan to score the winner a minute later and round out one of the more remarkable games in the history of the Saudi Pro League.