Al-Nassr boss Ange Postecoglou won plenty of admirers with the way he handled Cristiano Ronaldo, the club captain, after the Portugal star wasted a string of chances against Neom.
Ronaldo spurned a series of easy openings, a penalty among them. Al-Nassr still took the three points, with fellow Portuguese Joao Felix firing the only goal on Matchday 10 of the Roshn League.
A video soon did the rounds on X. In it, Postecoglou walks up to Ronaldo as the forward greets supporters and speaks to him at length, backing his captain through a rough patch brought on by the missed chances and his ongoing row with Portugal coach Jorge Jesus.
That support carried into the press conference, where the Australian refused to be drawn on the wasted chances. "This is the nature of football, and it is good that we create this number of chances, and we will work on making up for the mistakes," he said.
He added: "The whole team put in a great performance, and we achieved victory against a difficult opponent that possesses all the ingredients for success, but we are suffering from clear absences and we will try to get all the players ready."
He concluded: "We work as a family, so a win will be good for everyone and a loss will fall upon the whole team, so we must support one another and move forward with steady steps."