Al-Ahli lost (3-4) to Al-Nassr's first football team on September 22, in the seventh round of the 2023-2024 Saudi Pro League. They returned to lose (1-3) against Al-Hilal on Friday evening, in the eleventh round of the league, failing to secure a win against the two giants of Riyadh, only managing to win against Al-Ittihad in the Jeddah derby.
The defeat against the Riyadh giants followed a nearly identical scenario: a catastrophic performance in the first half, followed by a fierce comeback in the second half of the classic match.
The Fear of Poor Start Behind Al-Ahli's Loss
It seems that Al-Ahli's stars enter the classic match with a degree of distraction or fear, which leads to early goals conceded. The Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Al-Nassr in the fourth minute, while Serbian player Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored for Al-Hilal just 45 seconds into the match.
These early goals significantly affect Al-Ahli's players throughout the first half, causing them to make numerous defensive errors and play chaotically in the attacking line. Al-Ahli exited the first half against Al-Nassr trailing (1-3) and finished the first half of the Al-Hilal classic two goals down.
In the second half of both the Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal classics, Al-Ahli returned strongly, delivering impressive performances to reduce the score and come very close to equalizing or even winning, were it not for simple defensive errors that prevented them from earning any points. One such error was committed by Brazilian star Roger Ibanez, Al-Ahli's center back, who scored an own goal during the Al-Hilal classic in the 84th minute, at a time when Al-Ahli was very close to equalizing.
