UD Almería and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr faced each other in a friendly in which the main attraction was to see Cristiano Ronaldo after the European Championship, but Al Nassr coach Luis Castro decided that it was not yet time for the Portuguese to make his debut this season, nor did the newly crowned European champion, Aymeric Laporte.
The sporting aspect remained. Almería’s first chance came from Luis Suárez after a good assist from Ramazani. But the Colombian finished off the outside of the post with his left foot in a one-on-one with Nawaf.
The Saudis then took possession of the ball, with the inaccuracies typical of pre-season, but looking for balls filtered behind the red-and-white defence. In one of them, Mane almost controlled the ball to find himself one-on-one with Fernando.
In the 20th minute, the UDA could have taken the lead on two occasions: first in a one-on-one with Ramazani in which Nawaf got ahead, and then on the rebound, with Melero taking too long to decide what to do with the goalkeeper outside the area.
Baptistao also had a chance in the 29th minute, after a shot from Bruno Langa that the Brazilian finished in the right way. Almería continued to attack, but Luis Suárez was unable to beat the goalkeeper with a low shot that went straight in.
The first of the afternoon would come with bad luck for the Saudi team. It was Lajami in the 33rd minute, who put the ball into his own net after a carom off a clearance by Amri, which bounced off the defender and into the goal.
The second goal was not long in coming. Luis Suárez scored in the 40th minute with a low cross after a great assist from Baptistao.
After the restart, Al Nassr tried to reduce the deficit with a very active Mané and with Almería waiting for the counterattack. Almería could have sealed the victory in the 59th minute, but Leo Baptistao finished off Lajami’s body, who cleared it off the line. But in the next play, in the 60th minute, César Montes would give the final blow by scoring the 3-0 with a header from a corner after a poor clearance by Najjar.
With this result, the Juan Rojas Memorial Trophy remained permanently on Almería soil, an award that the red-and-whites lifted once the match was over.
3 – Almeria: Ferdinand; Arnau Puigmal (m.46, Well) Cesar Montes (m.79, Radovanovic) Kaiky (m.73, Chumi), Bruno Langa (m.73, Centelles); Edgar (d. 73, Baba), Melero (d. 46, Lopy), Robertone (d. 62, Mark Rock); Ramazani (62, Rachad), Baptistao (70, Valen) and Luis Suarez.
0 – Al-Nasr: Kone, Nawaf (m.46, Najar); Sultan (m.46, Fatil), Lajami, Amri, Telles; Khaibari (m.67, Ali Hassan), Otavio, Brozovic (m.67, Majeed); Ayman, Mane (m.67, Mukhtar), Maran (m.46, Nemed).
Goals: 1-0; M.33, Lajami own goal; 2-0; M.40, Luis Suarez; 3-0; M.59, Cesar Montes.
Referee: José Antonio Sánchez Villalobos, (Andalusian Committee), cautioned the visitors Lajami (min.26), Ayman (min.33) and Al Nemer (m.64).
Incidents: Match corresponding to the Juan Rojas Memorial Trophy, played at the UD Almería Stadium in front of 13,936 spectators. During the break there was a concert by the musician Chico Castillo, ‘The Gipsy’.
