2023-08-24 21:42:49
The Saudi League: a crescent quartet… a federal “power”… and a national “killer”.
Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal put their strong imprint on the competitions of the third round of the Professional League, with their exciting victory over Riyadh and Al-Raed with the same score (4-0), while Al-Ahly snatched an exciting victory with a fatal goal in the last breath at the expense of Al-Okhdood. The Gulf suffocated its host, Al-Ettifaq, led by English coach Gerrard, with a tie result, while Al-Wehda scored an important victory at the expense of Al-Tai, 3/0.
Al-Ittihad temporarily topped the standings, with a goal difference from Al-Ahly, as the two poles of Jeddah raised their score to 9 points each, while Al-Hilal came third with 7 points, followed by Al-Ettifaq with the same balance, then Al-Wehda with 6 points.
Al-Ittihad shone in its position, its Moroccan champion Hamdallah, nicknamed “Al-Sati”, as the Moroccan striker scored two goals against Riyadh, returning after years to the lights, one of which came in an amazing acrobatic manner, while the French captain Karim Benzema scored a goal, and in stoppage time. Saleh Al-Omari added a fourth goal.
Karim Benzema scored his first goal in the league, giving Al-Ittihad the lead in the 17th minute, and Hamdallah reinforced it with the second goal from a penalty kick 8 minutes later, before adding the third goal in the tenth minute of stoppage time for the first half. Saleh Al-Omari concluded his team’s goals near the end.
Al-Ittihad fans celebrated the goals, and some of them wore a mask bearing a picture of the face of Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool star, who, according to reports, agreed to move to the team during the current transfer period.
Coach Nuno Santo pushed his striking force from the start with the presence of Romarinho and Igor Coronado, behind Benzema and Hamdallah, while relying on N’Golo Kante and Fabinho in the midfield.
Benzema almost scored immediately after kick-off, after he dodged goalkeeper Martin Campania, but he hit the Riyadh defense stationed on the goal line.
The former Real Madrid striker disengaged in the 17th minute, after exchanging the ball with Romarinho and successfully hitting the goal, to celebrate his first goal in the Saudi League.
Coronado fired a wonderful shot, which passed over the crossbar in the 20th minute.
Hamdallah successfully translated a penalty kick in the 25th minute, which he won after being blocked by defender Ahmed Asiri. Romarinho thought he had made the score 3-0, before the goal was canceled for offside in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
And 6 minutes later, the Moroccan striker returned to score his second goal with a double kick, after a cross pass from Maddallah Al-Olayan. Musuna tried and hit from long range after 10 minutes of the break, but goalkeeper Grohe successfully saved the attempt.
Campania shone twice in front of Hamdallah, then Romarinho kicked and turned the ball into a corner after an hour of play.
Benzema tried and hit from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball passed by the right post 10 minutes before the end.
Substitute Saleh Al Abbas missed a penalty kick for Riyadh near the end, after Grohe successfully blocked the shot, keeping Al-Ittihad’s clean sheet for the third match in a row.
Al-Omari scored the fourth goal, after converting a cross pass from Benzema into the net in the third minute of stoppage time for the second half.
Benzema and Hamdallah recorded a strong presence in the confrontation that brought their team together in Riyadh (Photo: Yazid Al-Samrani)
For his part, Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic scored his first goal with Al-Hilal in his first appearance with the team, to put him on the road to a 4-0 victory over Al-Raed, despite his slow start in the professional league.
Salem Al-Dosari added two more goals, and Abdullah Al-Hammad scored a fourth goal for Al-Hilal in the second half of the match that the two teams ended with 10 players after Sergey Savic and Omar Gonzalez were sent off.
The match witnessed the first appearance of Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who moved to Al Hilal from Seville and saved two dangerous chances at the beginning of the second half.
Thus, Al-Hilal returns to the path of victories, after its 1/1 draw in the last round with Al-Fayhaa.
Casey saved Al-Ahly from the groove trap with the deadly goal (Saudi Professional League)
For his part, Al-Ahly won hard-fought in the final minutes 1/0 over its rising guest Al-Okhdood.
Frank Casey scored the match’s only goal for Al-Ahly in the sixth minute of calculated time instead of lost for the second half, after a difficult match in which the doors and outlets were closed to the Al-Okhdood window. Al-Ahly lost its player, Ziad Al-Juhani, who was injured on a stretcher during the confrontation.
Al-Ettifaq tied with its guest Al-Khaleej 1/1, and Fabio Martinez advanced to Al-Khaleej in the 29th minute, before Vitinho equalized for Al-Ettifaq in the 50th minute.
The Gulf thwarted the agreement with a draw in an exciting match (Photo: Issa Al-Dubaisi)
Al-Wehda achieved its second victory in a row, by defeating its host Al-Ta’i 3-0, at Prince Abdulaziz bin Musaed bin Jalawi Stadium in Hail.
triple unit record; Moroccan Faisal Fajr (34 from a penalty kick), Saeed Al-Mawlid (62), and former Al-Hilal player, Nigerian newcomer Odion Ighalo, who concluded the goal festival after entering as a substitute, to open his score in his first participation (90 + 2).
Al-Wahda gets a penalty kick, which was executed by the Moroccan Fajr strong to the right of goalkeeper Braga (34), before the goalkeeper of the guest team, Abdel Quddous Attia, saved his goal from an accomplished goal when he tackled the Dutchman Virgil Mesidjan (45).
With the start of the second half, Al-Wahda missed a real opportunity when Hazza Al-Ghamdi received a cross ball that he played in the wrong way instead of putting it into the goal (53), and Al-Tai responded by Ghanaian Bernard Mensah, who shot a powerful ball that crossed the crossbar (60).
And from a ball that the Al-Taie defense failed to clear, Al-Wahda strengthened its lead with a second goal when Saeed Al-Muwallad followed the ball into the goal (62), so that the latter found himself facing goalkeeper Braga again (68) before Abdulaziz Nour shot a powerful ball, which passed near the post (77). .
And the play continued, arguing between the two teams until the calculated time instead of the injury, during which the unit managed to score the third when substitute Ighalo received a ball inside the penalty area, which he played in the right scissors of the goal.
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