A hot and silent classico between Al Ittihad Jeddah and Al Nasr in the Saudi League

On Friday, attention turned to the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, the hot El Clasico theater behind closed doors between the leaders Al-Ittihad of Jeddah and Al-Nasr, its direct chaser, within the twentieth stage of the Saudi Football League.

The match, which is held behind closed doors due to the disciplinary punishment imposed on the Federation due to the excesses of its fans in previous matches, is of great importance for both teams in light of the title struggle.

Al-Ittihad leads the standings with 44 points with a postponed match against Al-Hilal, whose match was postponed in turn with the agreement due to its participation in the Club World Cup in the Emirates, while Al-Nassr is second with 38 points from 19 matches.

The match is the 96th in the history of their confrontations in the league, including 89 back and forth matches and 6 matches in the golden square, and the balance of the Union, which has won 36 times, compared to 29 losses and 30 draws.

The two teams enter the match in high spirits after the remarkable results that each of them has achieved recently, especially Al-Ittihad, which achieved the full mark in its last nine matches in the league, while Al-Nassr won its last seven matches.

Al-Ittihad is counting on the former deadly weapon of its rival, Moroccan striker Abdel-Razzaq Hamdallah, who Al-Nasr terminated his contract for “legal reasons” last November, after he scored 112 goals in 108 matches (with 34 assists). Matches he has played so far.

Hamdallah was crowned the league's top scorer in two consecutive seasons with Al-Nasr, if he scored 34 goals (2018-2019) and 29 goals (2019-2020) respectively, and crowned him with the league title in the 2018-2019 season, and the Super Cup on two consecutive occasions 2019 and 2020.

And the atmosphere of the match ignited after television statements by the Brazilian Al-Nasr striker Anderson Talisca, in which he attacked his former colleague Hamdallah, indicating that he thought of leaving three months after he came to the club because of him.

He added, "It seems that my joining the club caused him a feeling of discomfort, and after three months I decided to leave because of his problems and created a charged atmosphere in the team," explaining, "My thoughts at the time made me feel uncomfortable, and I prepared the bags and intended to leave."

Hamdallah submitted an official complaint to the Disciplinary Committee, where his lawyer explained that the Moroccan attacker considered the statements offensive to him.

Al-Ittihad is missing the services of its Egyptian international defender, Ahmed Hegazy, due to his injury with his country in the African Cup of Nations, and there is doubt about the participation of his Brazilian playmaker, Igor Coronado, due to his incomplete recovery, but he has distinguished names in all lines.

On the other hand, Al-Nassr enters the match with full ranks in light of the readiness of all its players, led by top scorer Talesca, the top scorer with 12 goals, with Cameroonian Leander Taumba (Al-Taawon), Nigerian Odion Ighalo (Al-Hilal) and Brazilian Romario Ricardo Silva (Ittihad Jeddah).

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