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Al-Nassr fans on social media have complained about Nawaf Boushal's performance in their 2-1 loss to Al-Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League on Friday (April 18). Boushal was poor in defense and was caught out of position for Al-Qadsiah’s opening goal.
Turki Al-Ammar opened the scoring for Al-Qadsiah in the 35th minute. The midfielder tapped in a close-range rebound following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's shot, which was saved by Al-Nassr's goalkeeper Bento. In the 84th minute, the Knights of Najd found their equalizer through Sadio Mane.
The Senegalese forward received a lofted through ball from Otavio and slotted the ball into the net. However, Mane's equalizer was short-lived as Aubameyang headed in Al-Qadsiah's winner in the 87th minute following a pass from Nahitan Nandez.
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In his stint, Boushal maintained a passing accuracy of 88% (56/64). He recorded three tackles, won seven out of 15 ground duels, but also lost possession of the ball 16 times (via Sofascore).
In the game's aftermath, Al-Nassr fans vented their frustration at Boushal's performance on X, with one tweeting:
"Nawaf Boushal thinks he is too good. Such an annoying player."
"Same comes to mind when I see him play brother thinks he is as good as brozo, Mane technically bro those can play with ball at their feet and can absorb the press he tries the same sh*t and gives away the ball and never looks up,only passes back or side Mane gets frustrated...," another added.
"We need a foriegn Lb," a fan suggested.
"Boushal was the worst player there, laporte needs a replacement. Otavio should play pivot," another fan opined.
"Bro that fraud kept keeping the ball instead of passing it," a disappointed fan complained.
"I was saying earlier in the day. He's the problem we have. Almost every attack came from his wing today. The first goal, he was just strolling," wrote another.
"We shouldn't have lost this match" - Al-Nassr manager on the defeat against Al-Qadsiah
Stefano Pioli has opined that the Knights of Najd should not have lost the game against Al-Qadsiah. He added that Al-Nassr need to work hard and recover for the remainder of the season.
In a press conference after the defeat, he said (via Al Nassr Zone's X handle):
"We shouldn't have lost this match, it wasn't expected, but we have to work to recover for the end of the season.”
Al-Nassr remain in third spot in the league standings with 57 points from 28 games. They are eight points behind Karim Benzema's Al-Ittihad, who are the league leaders. The Knights of Najd will take on Damac in their next league game on Tuesday (April 22).
