Last season, Al-Ittihad were dominant in Saudi football and won the league title without any big names ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Al-Nassr.This season, they brought stars like Karim Benzema, N’golo Kante and Fabinho, but they’re turning into the biggest disappointment.On Tuesday night, Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and others taught Benzema and his crew a brutal lesson – 5-2!Partying in Jeddah 😎 pic.twitter.com/z7AHZ5TrpB— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) December 26, 2023 This is Al Ittihad’s third consecutive defeat in the championship, which is really too much. At the recent Club World Cup, they were eliminated at the first hurdle as hosts. The recent change of coach and the arrival of the famous Marcelo Gallardo didn’t help much, either.##NAJAVA_MECA_7765195##After tonight’s defeat, they remained in a disappointing sixth place 22 points adrift of Al Hilal. What’s quite bizarre is that things didn’t go badly for Gallardo’s team in the first half. Al-Nassr’s former icon Hamdallah – 115 goals in 109 matches – found the back of the net following Benzema’s assist at the 15-minute mark. But the response was quick and resolute. Ronaldo levelled the score from the penalty spot in the 19th minute before Talisca directed a total comeback five minutes before the break. Hamdallah struck again at the beginning of the second half, but Fabinho was sent off due to the second bookable offence in seven minutes and from that moment on, the game took a U-turn. It was a proper avalanche! Cristiano scored his 53rd goal of 2023 and then Mane struck twice more for Al-Nassr’s emphatic triumph.
