This is a special edition as only six league matches were played in the latest round of the Roshn Saudi League due to postponed matches because of the involvement of Al Hilal, Al Nassr and Al Ahli in the AFC Champions League Elite finals. Letโs recap the key events of both tournaments together!
๐. ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐ฅ๐ข!
First things first: congratulations to Al Ahli for winning the AFC Champions League Elite! An incredible achievement for the green side of Jeddah if you consider that they have played in the second tier of Saudi football a little less than two years ago. This was truly a historic victory for Firmino and co as it is the first Champions League gold medal of the team. The icing on the cake was that they played the final in their own stadium in Jeddah.
๐. ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ!
Everything has to come to an end eventually: so did the unbelievable winning-streak of Al Hilal earlier this season and now head coach Jorge Jesusโ spell is also finished as he was sacked following the exit of the Blue Waves from the AFC Champions League Elite semi-final against Al Ahli. Mohammed Al Shalhoub will take the lead as caretaker manager for the time being. We wish all the best to Jorge Jesus, whose energetic presence at the touchline and incredible achievements will always be remembered.
๐. ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข โ ๐๐ข๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐ณ: ๐๐ โ ๐
Al Ahli may have bested Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League Elite, however, there is some consolation for the fans of the Blue Waves: captain Salem Al Dawsari finished at the top of the list of goalscorers with 10 goals, fending off a number of players with โonlyโ 9 goals, including Al Ahliโs Riyad Mahrez. Congratulations Salem!
๐. ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐
Letโs go back to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, namely its southern part as Damac seems to be involved in the relegation battle due to their poor run of results. The match against Al Fayha in the last round was a classic six-pointer, which they lost, unfortunately for them. This means that Damac is now only two points away from the relegation zone, which is certainly not something we would have expected a few months ago. Stanciu and co need to step up sooner rather than later in order to calm the nerves of the fans.
๐. ๐๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐: ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ค๐ก๐๐จ๐จ๐
Speaking about the bottom of the table, letโs take a closer look at our favourite relegation battle! Each of Al Fateh, Al Fayha, Al Orobah and Al Wehda won their latest fixture โ who would have bet on that in advance? The first two are now four points away from the relegation zone, edging closer to safety than ever this season โ again, who would have bet on that a few months ago? Still, there is a lot to play for and we donโt even dare saying who could be involved in the fight for survival as the arrival of Damac in the relegation theatre has already caught as by surprise.
The loser of the round was Al Okhdood, who missed a glorious opportunity to move away from the relegation zone but thanks to their defeat against fellow strugglers Al Wehda on home ground and other results not really going their way, the Najrani team sank back to the relegation zone.
