Al Nassr equal rare winning-start mark as Postecoglou follows Jorge Jesus

Ange Postecoglou has matched a landmark achieved by his predecessor Jorge Jesus after Al Nassr began the new Saudi Pro League season with consecutive victories, the seventh time in the club’s history that they have won their opening two league matches.

Al Nassr produced another convincing result on Friday, beating hosts Al Riyadh 4-0 at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in the Saudi capital during the second round of the competition.

The result followed a 3-0 victory over Al Fateh in the opening round, giving Postecoglou’s side six points from their first two league fixtures and a goal difference of seven scored and none conceded.

According to Opta statistics, Al Nassr had previously started a Saudi Pro League campaign by winning both of their first two matches on six occasions. Friday’s result added a seventh entry to that list.

It also represented the second consecutive season in which Al Nassr have achieved the feat. They did so last season under Portuguese manager Jorge Jesus, before Postecoglou repeated the accomplishment in his first two league games of the current campaign.

The club have now achieved consecutive two-match winning starts in successive seasons for only the second time. Their previous instance came approximately seven years ago, when they opened both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons with victories in their first two Saudi Pro League matches.

Al Nassr’s strong start has extended beyond their league results. They have scored seven times across their opening two Saudi Pro League games without conceding, while adding four more goals in a 4-1 win against Al Diriyah in the round of 32 of the King’s Cup.

That victory over Al Diriyah means Al Nassr have scored 11 goals in their first three competitive matches of the season. Their defensive record has been equally notable in the league, where they remain unbeaten and have yet to concede.

The latest win against Al Riyadh therefore maintained both their perfect league record and the defensive run established on the opening day against Al Fateh. It also gave Postecoglou an early opportunity to join a small group of Al Nassr managers whose teams have won their first two Saudi Pro League matches in consecutive seasons.

Before this campaign, the club had managed that start in 2018-19 and 2019-20, while last season’s achievement under Jorge Jesus was the first time they had repeated it in the modern sequence before Postecoglou’s side did so again.