Ittihad fall even further after surprise home loss to Raed

If it wasn’t clear before then it was confirmed on Saturday, as defending champions Al-Ittihad officially fell out of the title race after losing 3-1 at home to Al-Raed.

The loss, a second successive setback in the Roshn Saudi League, leaves the Tigers a massive 22 points behind leaders Al-Hilal and their game in hand is not going to make much difference. This latest defeat ends a bad few days for the Jeddah giants, who failed to make the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup after a 3-1 loss against Al-Ahly of Egypt, also played on home soil.

Coach Marcelo Gallardo, appointed to succeed Nuno Santo in November, can almost now start to focus on the Asian Champions League knockout stage that kicks off in February, as well as the King’s Cup.

It all started to go wrong in the 12th minute as Ittihad defender Madallah Al-Olayan was shown a red card for his challenge on Julio Tavares. Ten minutes later, Karim El-Berkaoui gave the visitors the lead, heading home in fine fashion at the far post after a perfect left-sided cross from Hamad Al-Jayzani.

Three minutes later, the hosts were level. A beautiful Igor Coronado pass from deep was controlled by Romarinho in the area and the Brazilian hooked the ball home. At the time, it looked as if the champions were going to overcome their one-man disadvantage but the visitors had other ideas.

With 18 minutes remaining, El Berkaoui restored Al-Raed’s lead, slotting home after Tavares had pulled the ball back from the byline. Despite the best efforts of the hosts to get back on level terms, it was the visitors who scored next. 

Mohammed Al-Dossary sealed a famous win for Al-Raed in the final minute of normal time. They will now climb out of the relegation zone. Al-Ittihad are, meanwhile, struggling on sixth with just 28 points from 17 games.

Ittihad now need to recover for the big game on Tuesday, a huge clash against second-placed Al-Nassr.