Al-Nassr won 5-2 against their hosts Al-Ittihad in the postponed match from round 17 of the Roshn Saudi Pro League for the current sports season 2023-2024. Moroccan star Abdulrazak Hamdallah, the current Al-Ittihad striker and former Al-Nassr player, undoubtedly stole the spotlight in this classic match due to his significant impact on the field, despite his team's heavy loss. He scored two goals in the 14th and 51st minutes and skillfully maneuvered around Al-Nassr's defense, even though this is not the most notable trait of the Moroccan star.
Hamdallah's "less skilled" dribbles revealed the catastrophic weakness of Al-Nassr's defensive players, led by the duo Ali Lajami and Spanish player Emerick Laporte. The second goal scored by Abdulrazak Hamdallah with a header highlighted Al-Nassr's defensive failures in dealing with crosses, which warns of potential future points losses.
By delivering an enjoyable performance in the classic match, Hamdallah sent a message to all fans, whether from Al-Ittihad or rival teams, to stop mocking him or labeling him as "finished" and calling for his dismissal. Despite being in one of his lesser seasons, Hamdallah still performs significantly better than his teammate, French striker Karim Benzema, who has shown very lackluster performances.
Al-Nassr Breaks Classic Curse with "Silly Mistakes"
For its part, Al-Nassr's victory over Al-Ittihad is considered more "philosophical" than "technical," as the yellow team succeeded in breaking the Classic curse after a full five years. The global team hasn't won against Al-Ittihad since December 21, 2018, when they triumphed 2-1 in round 14 of the Saudi Pro League. After that classic match, the two teams played 11 games against each other, where Al-Nassr could only manage four draws and suffered seven losses, turning the classic encounter into a major curse.
The credit for breaking this curse goes to the assists provided by Al-Ittihad's global stars, primarily, to Al-Nassr during the large Tuesday classic. The first Al-Nassr goal came after French striker Karim Benzema caused a penalty against Al-Ittihad, while the global team scored their "third" from another silly mistake by Brazilian midfielder Fabinho.
Fabinho's mistake led to a penalty against Al-Ittihad and also resulted in a red card in the same play; this collapse led to a complete breakdown of the team, ultimately losing by five goals. Therefore, if Al-Ittihad wants to return to competition, they must first find solutions to the silly mistakes committed by their stars, especially the experienced ones.
Ronaldo Takes the Lead in Global Scorers for 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo, Al-Nassr's captain, alone topped the scoring charts for 2023 after surpassing duo Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, forwards for Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain respectively, adding Al-Ittihad to his list of victims in the Saudi Pro League. Ronaldo scored two penalty goals for Al-Nassr against Al-Ittihad in a postponed match from round 17.
Ronaldo's total goals in all competitions for 2023 reached 53, surpassing Kane and Mbappe by one goal in the list of highest scorers worldwide. The trio is ahead of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland, who is in third place with 50 goals. On another note, Ronaldo scored against Al-Ittihad for the first time in the Saudi League, having failed to score against the team in their previous meeting last season.
Conversely, Ronaldo didn't manage to score against Al-Faiha, Al-Hilal, Al-Taawoun, and Al-Batin. He also marked his 19th goal this season, reinforcing his leading position in the Saudi League scorers' chart.
Mane Breaks Goal Drought in Saudi League
Al-Nassr's professional player, Senegalese star Sadio Mane, ended his goal drought in the Saudi Pro League (Roshn), having failed to score in 10 consecutive matches. Mane netted the fourth and fifth goals for his team Al-Nassr against Al-Ittihad in the postponed match from round 17 of the Roshn Saudi League.
Mane scored the fourth goal in the 75th minute after a complete breakaway from Talisca, who passed the ball to him for a close-range shot into the net. The fifth goal came in the 82nd minute after a brilliant pass from Otavio outside the penalty area to an unmarked Mane, who fired the ball inside the net. Mane's last goal before this was in the match against Al-Raed in round six of the tournament.
This season, Sadio Mane has participated in 17 league matches with Al-Nassr, scoring 8 goals and assisting 4 others.
