The Saudi Pro League has been steadily attracting the attention of football fans around the world for several years, including Bangladesh, where the league’s popularity is growing rapidly thanks to the participation of world football stars and high standards of play. Many fans actively follow the matches and place bets through platforms such as Linebet apk, which offers convenient access to sports predictions and analytics.
In the fourth round of the league, archrivals Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr faced off. The match took place on September 26, 2023, at Al-Ittihad’s home stadium, the famous King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. It is worth noting that the atmosphere surrounding the match was incredible: fans of both teams filled the stands of the 65,000-seat stadium, creating vibrant support for their favorites.
Both teams approached the match in good spirits, having earned maximum points in all three rounds prior to this, winning each of their matches. Thus, it can be said that the two strongest teams in the Pro League at the moment met. In this regard, the level of motivation of both opponents was sky-high, given the intensity of their rivalry and the importance of points in the fight for the championship.
The match began with sharp attacks from both teams. Al-Nasr managed to open the scoring in the 9th minute of the match, when Kingsley Coman on the right flank easily beat the defender one-on-one and made a soft pass to the far post, from where the forgotten Mane hammered the ball under the crossbar.
Al-Ittihad then tried to take the initiative in the match and succeeded for a while. At one point, the home team’s French striker Moussa Diaby even managed to score after a long pass from his compatriot N’Golo Kanté, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
In the 35th minute of the match, the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo made his mark. First, Ronaldo’s shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked, but the ball rebounded to Mane on the left, Sadio made a soft pass to the center, where Cristiano broke through between Kante and Fakouhi and headed the ball past goalkeeper Rajkovic.
The score remained unchanged for the rest of the match, despite the home team’s forwards having several good chances to score a goal in response. Ronaldo also missed a great opportunity to score a brace in this match. However, the opponents failed to capitalize on their chances, and the match ended in a confident 2-0 victory for Al-Nassr.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s team proved to be stronger than their opponents in many ways. This is best illustrated by the match statistics, in particular Al-Nassr’s shots on goal, which were almost three times higher than Al-Ittihad’s – 21 against 8. With 12 points out of a possible 12, Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus’s team is now alone at the top of the table. Al-Ittihad, in turn, remained on 9 points and currently trails second-placed Al-Qadisiyah, who narrowly beat Al-Fateh 1-0 away from home.
