Football Bet of the Day: Ronaldo to break the deadlock

My football bet of the day for Friday, September 13 focuses on the Saudi Arabia Pro League match-up between Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli (KO, 19:00) at the King Saud Sport City Stadium.

The hosts are coming into this clash off the back of a 4-1 triumph over Al Fayha, while the visitors were narrowly beaten by Al Fateh in their most recent encounter.

Al-Nassr vs Al-Ahli Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Al-Nassr vs Al-Ahli page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

After sharing the spoils with Al-Raed on matchday one, Al-Nassr quickly got back on track by securing their first league win of the season last time out against Al Fayha, courtesy of a brace from Anderson Talisca, as well as a goal each from Marcelo Brozovic and Cristiano Ronaldo.

That victory marked the fourth-straight game with a goal for Ronaldo, who recently hit the headlines for scoring over 900 goals in his professional career.

Luis Castro will be hopeful that the 39-year-old's hot streak in front of goal can continue on Friday against Al-Ahli, who haven't won in the last five installments of this fixture with two losses each side of a draw.

The former Manchester United man has started the season in fine form for Al-Nassr, scoring in the opening two games of the season, before enjoying further joy in front of goal in the recent international break for Portugal.

Football Odds

Ronaldo scored his record-breaking 900th goal in the 2-1 victory over Croatia last Thursday, before coming off the bench on Sunday to score the decisive late goal against Scotland in another 2-1 win. Incredibly, almost half of Ronaldo's goals (437) have been scored since he turned 30 in February 2015.

Friday's opponents, Al-Ahli, will be eager to keep Ronaldo quiet, as they're looking to bounce back from a disappointing start to the season. They finished third last term, but have lost two of their opening three matches of the new campaign, which includes the 1-0 defeat to Al Fateh last time out.

Summer signing Ivan Toney could be the key to turning the Jeddah-based side's fortunes around, but as mentioned above, Al-Ahli's recent head-to-head record in this fixture makes for grim reading.

With Ronaldo being amongst the goals in recent weeks, I'm backing him to open the scoring here at a decent price of 3/1. Confidence will be high given his efforts for Portugal at the weekend, and Al-Nassr's record in this fixture means he should get plenty of opportunities to get on the scoresheet and break the deadlock.

Offers

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down.

You can read all our latest Football Bets of the Day at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.