The global eyes are eagerly watching the Saudi Professional League like never before after the clubs of the Kingdom welcomed a large number of international stars over the past year. Every week, Al Arabiya English will summarize the main events as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar, and others compete for the title during the 2023-2024 season.
Al Nassr Ends the Year Successfully
The match between Al Ittahad and Al Nassr was one of the highlights of the week, as Al Ittahad hosted the second-placed Al Nassr team, with coach Péricles Chamusca aiming for a second consecutive victory after a surprising 2-0 win in Riyadh in the second match of the season. It seemed that Al Ittahad might achieve victory again when they took the lead, as Al Nassr’s Abdelilah Al-Amri committed a penalty error that was reviewed by VAR, and Dutch player Ashraf Al-Mahdioui scored from the rebound after the initial penalty was saved by Nawaf Al-Aqadi.
Al Nassr has only lost one match in the league since the 2-0 defeat against Al Ittahad in August, and coach Luis Castro’s team showed their ability to recover and turn the match around before the end of the first half. Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozović equalized after evading Al Ittahad’s offside trap to receive a clever pass from Talisca, then former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte scored a powerful goal from a corner to put Al Nassr ahead.
Al Nassr extended their lead early in the second half when Al Ittahad’s defense failed to clear the ball from Ronaldo’s pass across the goal. Portuguese player Otavio was a happy recipient of the ball, taking it 12 yards from goal to score his fifth of the season. The score remained the same until the 92nd minute, when Ronaldo scored a fantastic goal to cap another year full of goals. The Portuguese star scored with a header from Talisca’s cross from the right side, surpassing Al Ittahad’s goalkeeper Milson, achieving his 54th goal in 2023. Al Nassr hopes for more success when the quest for titles resumes in February.
Late Victories for Al Hilal and Al Ahli
Al Nassr remains seven points behind Al Hilal after the latter won 2-0 against Al Fayha on Friday. After knowing they would play against Al Nassr in a Saudi showdown in the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League, Al Fayha proved to be a difficult team for Al Hilal, who had 73 percent possession and 12 shots on goal compared to just two for Al Fayha. The match seemed like it would end in a draw, but championship teams find a way to win, and finally, Al Hilal managed to score in the 86th minute.
Defender Ali Al-Buwaihi scored the winning goal unexpectedly, giving Al Hilal the lead in the final moments. Alexander Mitrović then sealed the victory with a penalty in the 11th minute of stoppage time, with the Serbian striker scoring his 17th goal of the season, just three goals shy of the current top scorer of the Saudi Professional League, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Like Al Hilal, Al Ahli found themselves in a difficult position with a 0-0 draw despite dominating, but like their Riyadh counterparts, the Jeddah team found a way to win against Al Khaleej. The goal came from a penalty in the ninth minute of stoppage time, beautifully executed by midfielder Franck Kessié. Al Ahli ended their draw streak at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium and secured a comfortable third-place position after returning to the Saudi Professional League.
Relegation Battle Heats Up
There was a significant development in the relegation battle of the Saudi Professional League as Al Riyadh exited the relegation zone and Al Raed also earned three valuable points in their attempt to stay in the league. The match for Al Raed was the most thrilling result, ending in an exciting 4-3 victory for the home side against Abha.
Al Raed took the lead
Abha was in the lead at the end of the first half after two goals from young Saudi player Hassan Al-Ali and an equalizer from Khalid Al-Subaie. Al-Raed came back in the second half, where Mohammed Fawzeer and Karim Al-Barkawi scored two goals for the home team, before Fabian Noguera equalized for Abha. Then, in the 97th minute, Cameroonian defender Omar Gonzalez scored a stunning winning goal for Al-Raed. After Al-Raed had only secured two victories in their first 14 matches in the Saudi Pro League, Igor Yuvichevich’s team seemed to be lagging, but with three wins, a draw, and a loss this month, Al-Raed doubled their points tally to occupy the thirteenth position.
The 4-3 defeat left Abha at the bottom of the Saudi Pro League, alongside Al-Hazem at the last position, while Al-Taee fell to sixteenth place thanks to a surprise 1-0 victory for Riyadh over Damak. The capital club had lost three consecutive matches before Thursday’s game, while Damak had won five in a row, but Riyadh turned the expected results around as Andrei Gray scored the winning goal in the 51st minute to surpass Al-Taee and finish the year above the relegation zone in fifteenth place.
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