When Karim Benzema arrived in Saudi Arabia in the summer, he and Cristiano Ronaldo were expected to lead the teams that would compete for the title. Halfway through the national championship campaign, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr are well behind Al-Hilal, who are still unbeaten in the league. So, halfway through the Saudi Arabian championship, it is already clear that this rich Middle-Eastern country will get a new champion. Al-Hilal is rushing to win the title, leaving Al-Nassr in the ‘dust’ and Al-Ittihad in the ‘mud’.The Blue Waves have big names in their camp such as Yassine Bounou, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinković-Savic, and, above all, Aleksandar Mitrović, who scored 24 goals in 25 games in all competitions. Al-Hilal are relentless despite missing their biggest star Neymar, who played just five matches before getting injured.Al-Ittihad have disappointed this season and are currently 22 points behind Al-Hilal, their poor form leading to former coach Nuno Espirito Santo being sacked in November when the Tigers signed Argentine Marcelo Gallardo. The former River Plate boss had a “mixed” run so far with the Jeddah giants.##NAJAVA_MECA_7765058##Al-Ittihad are stumbling, last weekend they sensationally got defeated by Al-Raed at home 1-3. There is an opportunity for the Jeddah team to improve on Tuesday when they welcome Al-Nassr. The team filled with stars such as Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Alex Telles, Aymeric Laporte, Marcelo Brozović and Talisca – the only competitor to the leader Al-Hilal, although there is a double-digit gap. The Portuguese star is a goal machine in the blue and yellow jersey of the team from Riyadh. He scored 17 goals, one more than the Serbian Aleksandar Mitrović, who shakes nets regularly in the blue jersey of the most trophy-winning team in the country.Al-Nassr started the campaign not too good, but started to provide good results and trail their neighbors from Riyadh by ten points. However, Cristiano Ronaldo is up to the task and the team reckons that the Portuguese veteran, who managed to find the back of the net 17 times this season with nine assists, has not yet said the last word.🤍✨ Cristiano Ronaldo & Karim Benzema will be reunited today… Real Madrid’s top 2 all-time goalscorers and assist providers. Al Ittihad face Al Nassr this evening. 🔜 pic.twitter.com/s7OO155yH9— LEY FOOT24 (@leyfoot24) December 26, 2023 Al-Nassr are ten steps behind Al-Hilal with a match in hand, so they must win if they want to make the second part of the championship more uncertain. The team from Riyadh tied two wins, and Al-Ittihad have as many as three defeats at their stadium in eight games in the campaign in which they are defending the championship throne.This is the first match between these teams this season, and also the first confrontation between Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, legends of Real Madrid. Their last meeting was at the postponed Euro 2020 tournament, and the match between their national teams ended in a 2-2 draw. Ronaldo and Benzema played 342 games together for Real Madrid, with the Portuguese scoring 47 goals from Benzema’s assists and the Lyon-born striker netting 29 goals from Cristiano’s final passes.
