A month ago: Al Nassr looked certain champions. A few weeks passed: Al Hilal looked certain champions. Now: the title race is open, to which Al Ahli also joined.
Please see below our latest review of the key events of the Roshn Saudi League.
The title race intensifies. Al Ahli makes a strong bid.
Let’s jump right into the title race! Al Hilal visited Khobar in a classic six-pointer, and drew with Al Qadsiah. You had everything in this magnificent match, including but not limited to:
– a missed penalty by Salem, who later redeemed himself with a wondergoal,
– an incredible goal from a corner kick by Rúben Neves,
– former Blue Waves midfielder Al Juwayr assisted both goals against his former team,
– Darwin Núñez missing even the unmissable.
A fantastic match, which opened the way for Al Nassr and Al Ahli to close the gap on the league leaders. And they did: Al Nassr looks to be back to their best with a dominant João Félix causing all sort of problems to Al Kholood, and Toney seemingly can’t stop scoring, bagging his second hat-trick of the season.
Al Hilal will certainly have a difficult task at their hands to maintain both their eroding league lead an unbeaten run as they host Al Ahli next round: another classic six-pointer for the Blue Waves.
Benzema goes on a strike. Al Shehri thanks for the chance.
Given our aforementioned analysis, you may deduct that among the four PIF-backed teams the reigning champions have the most difficult season. Al Ittihad failed to meet the expectations both in the league and in the Asian Champions League so far, and their problems deepen as captain Karim Benzema denied to play for the Tigers due to a dispute in connection with his contract extension.
Nevertheless, Saudi legend Saleh Al Shehri welcomed the chance to return to the starting line-up and scored a brace. However, Vargas scored a stunning goal in the dying seconds of the stoppage time and rescued a point for Al Fateh, denying the Tigers of a potentially morale-boosting victory.
Tension was indeed high and feelings heated: Al Fateh manager José Gomes was sent off as he raised his concerns to the match officials in connection with the penalty awarded to Al Ittihad at the start of the stoppage time. Following a brief celebration after the leveller of Vargas and the imminent final whistle, he rushed back onto the pitch “to restart the discussion”, but was pulled back before he could get into action.
No Hamdallah. No Carrasco. No problem!
We already wrote about the abysmal season of Al Shabab several times. The White Lions missed a reliable goalscorer entire season as Moroccan legend Hamdallah is having an injury-plagued season. Things just seemed to get worse for them as Carrasco was forced to miss his second consecutive match.
When all hope was lost, Carlos Júnior was called into action following the half-time break, and scored a second half hat-trick against Al Hazem. He became the seventh player to score three goals in the same match, joining the elite club of João Félix (Al Nassr), Benzema (Al Ittihad), King (Al Khaleej), Julián Quiñones (Al Qadsiah), Roger Martínez (Al Taawoun) and Toney (Al Ahli).
