Ronaldo’s hat-trick puts Pitso Mosimane’s team to the sword

Pitso Mosimane suffered the worst defeat of his career as a coach after Abha Club were thrashed 8-0 by Cristiano Ronaldo led Al Nassr on Tuesday.

‘Jingles’ took over the reins at Abha back in January with a mandate of keeping the club in the Saudi Pro League.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns coach has had mixed results since returning to Saudi. With relegation fears growing, Pitso now has to pull a rabbit out of a hat to avoid the chop with fewer games remaining this season.

On Tuesday, his side faced one of the best teams in Saudi Arabia and it was Mosimane’s best chance to prove why he was one of the most-rated coaches in Africa.

A first-half hat-trick from Ronaldo made the task even harder for Pitso and his troops.

After the match, Mosimane took full responsibility for the loss and admitted his side made mistakes.

“I bear full responsibility,” said the South African coach as per Soccer Laduma.

“We must accept the loss after committing so many mistakes and we must learn from this harsh lesson.

Pitso Mosimane’s club punished by Cristiano Ronaldo

“Al Nassr gave us five goals with serious mistakes. I feel sorry for the player Mohammed Al Qahtani. He is a young player and he must learn from his mistakes in the upcoming matches,” he said.

Mosimane‘s Abha Club lie 17th on the log and needs to win at least four of their last eight matches to avoid relegation. The team has managed just six wins from their 26 matches this season with Pitso winning just two since taking over.

Having to coach in the league which contains stars such as Ronaldo and Sadio Mane is a dream for Pitso but seeing his players helpless on Tuesday must raise a concern. His team needs to bounce back as they are in action next Sunday against Al Fateh.

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