Al-Ittihad snatched the lead in the Saudi Football League from its guest, Al-Nasr, the former leader, by defeating it 1-0 Thursday at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, within the twentieth stage competitions.
Al-Ittihad owes the three points to its Brazilian striker, Romarinho, who scored the only goal (80).
Al-Ittihad raised its score to 47 points to take the lead, one point ahead of Al-Nassr, who retreated to second place.
Accompanied by 57,244 fans, Al-Ittihad started the confrontation fiercely, wanting to snatch an early goal, and almost achieved that in the third minute, after a wonderful tactical sentence, to reach the ball to Abdul Razzaq Hamdallah, who did not deal with it optimally to go outside the field.
Hamdallah manipulated the Al-Nasr defender during a quick counterattack and passed the ball to Romarinho, who shot in the direction of the goal, but the defense intervened and ended the danger.
Al-Ittihad’s advantage continued, but without danger to Nawaf Al-Aqidi’s goal, so that the first half ended with the two teams tied negatively.
Al-Ittihad continued its supremacy with the start of the second half, and posed a threat to the Nasrawi goal, so the Brazilian Bruno Henrique’s header passed by the goal (54), before Nawaf Al-Aqidi starred in confronting Hamdallah’s unilateralism, then the Spanish Nasrawi defender Alvaro Gonzalez delved into removing Romarinho’s ball from the goal line. (57).
The struggle continued between Romarinho and Al-Aqidi, as the latter succeeded brilliantly in blocking the dangerous Brazilian’s header (63), before the federal goalscorer unraveled the secrets of Al-Nasrawi’s goal by scoring the goal of advancing alone in Al-Aqidi after a perfect pass from Ahmed Sharahili (82).
In the third minute of stoppage time, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo hit a missile ball that Al-Ittihad goalkeeper Grohe defied, to announce that Al-Ittihad was at the top of the league by excelling in the “Saudi Football Classico”.
Commenting on the defeat, Ronaldo expressed his disappointment with the result, vowing to continue “focusing on our season and the upcoming matches.”
And in a post on his account Instagram Ronaldo thanked Al Nasr fans for his support.
In a second match, the youth team returned to the winning streak after defeating its guest Al-Fayhaa 3-2 at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh.
Al-Shabab advanced with a goal to Gabonese Aaron Bubenza after a ball reached him from Santi Mina (15), and Argentine Christian Guanca added the second from a counterattack (36), and the third goal was scored by Spaniard Santi Mina (39). Brazilian Iago Santos scored a mistake in his own net (45). Nigerian Nwakaimi added the second (53). Al-Shabab raised its score to 43 points in third place, while Al-Fayhaa’s balance froze at 23 points in ninth place.
Al-Batin snatched three valuable points in its escape from the bottom of the standings, by defeating its guest Al-Khaleej 1-0.
The goal of Fawz Al-Batin was scored by Youssef Al-Shammari in the fifth minute of the match. Al-Batin raised its score to 9 points and continued at the bottom of the standings, while the balance of the Gulf froze at 16 points in the fifteenth place.
Al-Ittifaq tied with its guest Al-Wahda 1-1 at Prince Muhammad bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam.
Al-Wahda advanced through Alaa Al-Hajji in the 22nd minute, and the Swedish Robin Quaison equalized for the agreement in the 70th minute from a penalty kick.