SPL week 29: Al Riyadh stuns Al Ahli, Al Hilal recovers, Al Nassr wins Cup warm-up

Global eyes are on the Saudi Pro League like never before after its clubs welcomed a host of star-studded new arrivals to the Kingdom over the past year. Each week, Al Arabiya English will round-up the key storylines as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar and Co do battle for the 2023-24 title.

Matchday 29 saw Al Riyadh claim a surprising victory over Al Ahli to help its bid to stay in the Saudi Pro League, while Al Hilal recovered from its AFC Champions League heartbreak and Al Nassr drew first blood against Al Khaleej ahead of the pair’s King’s Cup showdown this week.

Al Hilal bounces back

With the Saudi Pro League title almost wrapped up, Al Hilal could have been forgiven for wallowing a little in the disappointment of its midweek AFC Champions League exit at the hands of UAE giant Al Ain. Jorge Jesus’ side won the second leg on Tuesday but was eliminated 4-3 on aggregate and came into Friday’s match against Al Fateh at its lowest ebb this season.

Al Fateh made the most of a rare opportunity to face a wounded Al Hilal side and opened the scoring early in the second half at the Kingdom Arena. Armenian playmaker Lucas Zelarayán has been in fine form over the past month, contributing a hat-trick of assists in the 3-2 victory over Al Wehda, scoring the winner against Al Ettifaq and netting against Al Raed. He made it three goals in three games to break the deadlock in Riyadh, though his tame shot should really have been saved by goalkeeper Bono, who let the ball squirm under his body and into the goal.

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The visitors’ lead lasted less than a minute as Malcom bagged his 13th league strike of the season and fourth in three games with a back post header that came exactly 20 seconds after the restart. Al Hilal completed the turnaround on 74 minutes after substitute Mohammed al-Qahtani was fouled in the penalty area. Ruben Neves, who scored from the spot against Al Ain, repeated the trick to make it 2-1 and, right at the death, Ali al-Bulayhi added a third to put the result beyond doubt after responding fastest in the six-yard box when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s free-kick was saved. Al Hilal now needs just two more wins to secure the title.

Al Riyadh shocks al Ahli

Al Ahli was not impressed at its fixture with Al Hilal being cancelled at late notice last week and Matthias Jaissle’s side was left even more unhappy on Thursday, showing a bit of ring rust from its two-week break from playing as it lost 2-1 to Al Riyadh. At the start of March, Al Riyadh looked to have almost secured its Saudi Pro League survival but a series of poor results since then - four losses and two draws in its past six games - saw Odair Hellmann’s team sink towards the drop zone.

But it picked the perfect occasion for a transformation in fortunes, upsetting fourth-placed Al Ahli - whose away form has only been bettered by leaders Al Hilal this season. On the balance of play, Al Ahli probably should have added another win - dominating proceedings in the Saudi capital with 17 shots on goal and 67 percent possession.

But it was Al Riyadh that was more ruthless with its finishing, taking the lead just before half-time courtesy of a penalty from defensive midfielder Birama Toure - his third successfully converted spot-kick of the season. Toure knows how to score when it matters, having also kept his nerve to score the winner in a victory over high-flying Al Taawoun in November. Al Riyadh couldn’t protect its lead, however, and in the 10th minute of first-half stoppage time Franck Kessie popped up to equalize for the visitors from Jeddah.

Al Ahli continued to probe in the second half and squandered chances, with Al Riyadh eventually punishing its opponent’s failure to find the net. Six minutes from the end of the game, Abdulhadi al-Harajin - who only scored his first goal of the season in last week’s defeat to Al Tai - grabbed his second in as many games, finishing from Yahya al-Shehri’s pass. Al Riyadh climbed back above Al Tai and three points clear of 16th-placed Abha.

Al Nassr wins cup warm-up

In a strange quirk of the Saudi fixture calendar, Al Nassr and Al Khaleej face each other twice in four days - in the league on Saturday and then in the King’s Cup semi-final on Wednesday. It was Luis Castro’s side that earned first blood, as a second-half strike from Aymeric Laporte was enough for the visitors to stay nine points behind Al Hilal and push its rival’s championship coronation a little further back.

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Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the Al Nassr starting XI after serving a one-match suspension and thought he had opened the scoring early on after successfully rounding goalkeeper Ibrahim Šehić. However, a VAR check ruled that he had strayed just offside in the build-up and the goal was disallowed. The Al Nassr captain then took a worrying tumble - despite having no opposition players around him - but appeared to shake off any potential injury and continued on.

Ronaldo had a couple of further chances and hit the post in the second half, moments before Al Nassr snatched the only goal of the match. Laporte had made a surging run forward, only to be fouled 35 yards from goal, giving Marcelo Brozovic the chance to whip in a left-wing free-kick. Frenchman Laporte climbed highest to head home the delivery for his second goal against Al Khaleej this season - having netted in Al Nassr’s 2-0 victory back in November.

Best of the rest

Al Taawoun has been quietly going about its business in recent weeks and is now unbeaten in six matches after a narrow 1-0 away victory over Damac, courtesy of Joao Pedro’s late winner. The result took Al Taawoun into fourth place above Al Ittihad after the Jeddah club fell apart in the second-half against Al Shabab. Habib Diallo handed the visitors the lead shortly after half-time as VAR overturned the initial on-field offside decision, though Abderrazak Hamdallah levelled for Al Ittihad with a header 10 minutes later. But a late close range finish from Brazilian forward Carlos and an even later goal on the counter from Saudi youngster Musab Fahz Aluwajr gave Al Shabab an impressive 3-1 win.

The weekend’s highest stakes match was the contest between relegation rivals Al Akhdoud and Abha, with the host from Najran emerging as comfortable 4-0 victors to significantly boost its survival hopes. Algerian coach Noureddine Zekri arrived at Al Akhdoud on April 18 and after an improved performance in last week’s 2-1 loss to Damac, his side blew Abha away on Saturday.

Georgia defender Solomon Kvirkvelia set Al Akhdoud on its way just before half-time, with second-half goals from Yaseen Atiah al-Zubaidi, Sebastian Pedroza and Abdulaziz Saleh al-Hatila securing a vital win that saw Al Akdhoud leapfrog both Abha and Al Tai to climb out of the relegation zone.

It has been four-and-a-half long months since bottom club Al Hazem last tasted victory in the Saudi Pro League and while there have been valiant recent efforts against the likes of Al Nassr and Al Ittihad, a win had proved elusive. Finally, after 12 winless matches, the club - which sacked coach Jose Carreno this week - secured a victory, beating Al Wehda 2-0 away from home. Second-half strikes from Faiz Selemani and Muhammed Badamosi were enough for Hazm, despite playing for almost an hour with only 10 men after Ahmed al-Juwaid’s early red card.

Read more:

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