Riyadh (AFP)
Al-Hilal won the Saudi Football League for the 18th time in its history and the third in a row, after its 2-1 victory over Al-Faisaly, who was relegated to the second division, at the end of the thirtieth and final stage.
Al-Hilal scored the Nigerian Odion Ighalo double (7 and 64), while Clayson Vieira scored Al-Faisaly’s goal (70).
With this victory, Al Hilal raised its score to 67 points in the lead, two points ahead of Al Ittihad, which tied negatively with its host Al Batin, while Al Faisaly’s balance froze at 33 points in the fourteenth place and was eliminated from the spotlight league.
Although Al Hilal was 8 points behind Al Ittihad, the “former leader” at the end of stage 26, it did not raise the white flag and managed to score six consecutive victories, including two in two postponed matches, which contributed to retaining the title.
Nigerian Ighalo succeeded in winning the league’s top scorer with 24 goals, 4 goals ahead of his closest competitor.
On the other hand, Al-Ahly club, the 2016 champion, was also officially relegated to the Second Division for the first time in its history, after drawing negatively with Al-Shabab.
Although Al-Ahly raised its score to 32 points, those points were not enough, so he joined Al-Faisaly and Al-Hazm.
After it overtook its lead, Al-Ittihad was content with a goalless draw against its guest Al-Batin and remained second with 65 points, while Al-Batin managed to avoid relegation after raising its score to 33 points in thirteenth place, thanks to direct confrontations with Al-Faisaly, who has the same balance.
Al-Nassr defeated Al-Fateh 2-1. The Argentine victory Betty Martinez scored “14” and the Uzbek Jalaluddin Masharipov “90 + 5”, while Ayman Al-Khalif scored “37” for Al-Fateh.
The Brazilian Anderson Talisca missed a penalty kick for Al-Nassr (58), before he was shown a red card in the 73rd minute.
Al-Nasr, who had previously secured third place, raised his score to 61 points, while Al-Fateh remained on its previous score with 35 points in eighth place.