Houssem Aouar was the hero of Al Ittihad once again as he calmly converted a penalty in the stoppage time following the dismissal of Awn Al Saluli. Thanks to this goal from the Algeria international, the 2022/23 champions won 2-1 against Al Taawoun and maintained their perfect start to the new campaign. On the other hand, Al Taawoun has a less enviable record of their own as this was a consecutive second red card for the Buraidah-based giants.
Speaking about streaks, Mitrović scored another brace to save the unbeaten run of Al Hilal. At first everything looked fine for the Blue Waves as they took the lead thanks to the Big Serbian in the first half, however, an exalted Damac came out to the second half and turned the match: the scoreline was 1-2 by the 53th minute. Unsurprisingly, the reigning champions fought back to maintain their invincible record as Musab Al Juwayr came on from the bench to level the contest and then Mitrović scored his second in the 84th minute to seal a 3-2 victory for Al Hilal.
Talisca also scored a brace as Al Nassr silenced critics following their disappointing start to the new season. The victim of the 1-4 trashing was Al Fayha, whose only consolation could be that Fashion Sakala opened his goalscoring account for the 2024/25 season. It is safe to say that this was not exactly the start Sakala and co were dreaming of, nevertheless, it is not a shame to be narrowly defeated by Al Taawoun and to lose against the team of Cristiano Ronaldo – Al Fayha will have a good chance turn their fortune in the upcoming fixtures.
Al Qadsiah and Al Ettifaq maintained their perfect start to the season with 1-0 victories over Al Raed and Al Okhdood, respectively. On the other hand, Al Ahli and Al Khaleeej did not as they lost with the same scoreline: the former against Al Fateh away and the latter against Al Shabab at home, which teams – on the other hand – both registered their first wins of the new season.
Saudi Pro League newcomers, Al Orobah and Al Kholood are still looking for their first point. The former was closer to achieve this as their match against Al Wehda seemed to end with a 1-1 draw up until the stoppage time. However, all three points stayed in Mecca in the end, thanks to the late goal of Murad Mohamed Abdullah Khadhari.
Finally, let us note that choosing not only the best but even the top 5 goals of this gameweek would be a very difficult task as we experienced a dozen of spectacular finishes. The goals from Kamano (Damac) and Barrow (Al Taawoun) stand out but Carrasco (Al Shabab), Collado (Al Kholood), the free kick goals from Ronaldo and Talisca (both from Al Nassr), the backheel flick by Benzema (Al Ittihad) and both goals of Mitrović (Al Hilal) are serious contenders … and this list is not even complete! Just watch a goal highlights video from this round – we promise that you will NOT regret it!
