Al-Nasr vs Al-Ittihad. Will Ronaldo face the controversial champions?
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Al-Nasr vs Al-Ittihad
Al-NasrSaudi Arabian football, Al-Nasr, and its star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, are once again in the spotlight. However, not entirely for footballing reasons. The new buzz around them stems from a different perspective—transfer scandal. Al-Nasr's main rival this season, Al-Hilal, recently pulled off a high-profile deal, signing Al-Ittihad striker Karim Benzema, which sparked a storm of indignation from Cristiano Ronaldo. Why? The answer is that in the Saudi Pro League, the budgets of the top clubs and their distribution are managed by a single entity—the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund (also known as the PIF). It turns out that this organization is working a little harder for Al-Hilal, ensuring the team receives stable and stronger reinforcements.
Media reports surfaced that Ronaldo was very unhappy with Benzema's transfer and threatened the league's management with a boycott. This rumor has already been partially confirmed – Cristiano was not included in the squad for Al-Nassr's previous league game against Al-Riyadh. However, no official announcement has been made yet. Perhaps the PIF management will be able to persuade Ronaldo to end his "strike" and convince the Portuguese that fair competition in the league is possible. For example, by acquiring a star player for Al-Nassr during the winter transfer window.
Nevertheless, despite all the recent scandals and the potential loss of their star, Al-Nassr are doing incredibly well in the league. While Al-Hilal have recently dropped points, drawing three times in a row, Jorge Jesus's side have shown consistent results, winning their last five league matches in a row.
This allowed Al-Nasr to reduce the gap with Al-Hilal to a minimum of one point, and hope that their rival's crisis will drag on.
However, the question regarding Ronaldo remains open: will the Portuguese appear on the pitch against the reigning champions? Or will he continue to struggle? Besides Cristiano, Al Nasr's list of potential losses includes Marcelo Brozovic and Kingsley Coman, who missed the team's last two and one match, respectively. The severity of their injuries is unknown.
Al-Ittihad
It appears a major restructuring has begun at the Jeddah club. New coach Sérgio Conceição, unimpressed by his team's performance, intends to make significant adjustments to the roster, and the process has already begun. Al-Ittihad's star player of the last two years and one of the architects of last season's championship victory, Karim Benzema, is leaving for Al-Hilal. Midfield leader N'Golo Kanté is also expected to leave for Turkish club Fenerbahçe. And Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri will replace Benzema from the Turkish club, also known as the Canaries, in Saudi Arabia. And it appears this is far from the last personnel news in Jeddah this winter.
Al-Ittihad's results in the final rounds of the championship have been anything but impressive. The team has won twice in six rounds, but those victories came against the two worst teams of the season – Al-Ohdud (2-1) and Al-Najma (1-0). The remaining four matches resulted in two losses and two draws. These "successes" have left Conceição's men in only sixth place in the league table, a good 10 points behind even the top three.
Al-Nasr vs Al-Ittihad facts
- Al-Ittihad have not won in 3 consecutive away matches this season (one defeat and two draws);
- Al-Nasr have won 5 league matches in a row, with the last 3 of them being clean sheets;
- In 6 of the last 7 matches between these opponents, the bookmaker's "total over 2.5" was "beaten".
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