Al-Ittihad down Al-Nassr at the death to stay top of SPL table

JEDDAH: Al-Ittihad dramatically defeated Al-Nassr 2-1 to move five points clear at the top of the Saudi Pro League table. In the final round of games until the start of 2025, an injury-time winner from Steven Bergwijn made the difference to perhaps knock the losers out of the title race for good.

When the big games such as the Classico come around, the big names make a difference, and that is exactly what happened here. Karim Benzema broke the deadlock early in the second half but Cristiano Ronaldo quickly restored parity — the two stars each have 10 league goals for the season so far — for the visitors, and it looked as though that was it.

Yet just as the game was heading for a draw, Bergwijn grabbed the victory to put Al-Ittihad on to 36 points from 13 games. Al-Hilal will move to within two points of the leaders if they win on Saturday. Al-Nassr stay on 25 points and drop down into fourth as Al-Qadsia earlier won 3-0 at Al-Kholood to take third. 

In the first half, Al-Nassr had more of the ball but Al-Ittihad looked more dangerous.

Both teams were feeling each other out in the early stages with the first real attempt coming as Nassr’s Aymeric Laporte headed a free-kick from deep just over the bar in the 19th minute. Only two minutes later, Karim Benzema cut in from the left and let fly from the top corner of the area, but his shot bounced just wide of the opposite post.

Midway through the first half, the hosts had the ball in the net. Benzema caused problems in the box and squared the ball to Bergwijn who slid home from close range, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

In the 27th minute, the Dutchman shot from just outside the area but Bento got down well to make the save. Seconds later, the goalkeeper was flying through the air to push a powerful Benzema effort just around the post.

Al-Nassr were struggling to fashion clear opportunities, but six minutes before the break Marcelo Brozovic picked up possession deep inside his own half and then picked out Sadio Mane with a fantastic through-ball. The Senegalese star took the ball past Predrag Rajovic but went too far wide, slipped and was then dispossessed. 

The match burst into life 10 minutes into the second half. Muhannad Al-Shantiqi ran down the right and provided the perfect low cross to the opposite side of the area where Benzema was waiting in space to pick his spot.

The lead lasted not much more than a minute — indeed, the home fans were still celebrating as Ronaldo became the first player to score against the league leaders in seven games. Angelo found space on the right byline and picked out the incoming Portuguese megastar with a smart pullback and Ronaldo made no mistake to score his 80th goal in total since signing for Al-Nassr almost two years ago.

With 10 minutes remaining, Mane had another chance to get on the scoresheet, but while the former Liverpool and Bayern Munich star timed his run in the area to perfection, he pulled his shot just wide from close range. It is the kind of chance that must be taken against a defense such as Al-Ittihad’s. 

And, sure enough, the punishment came. In the 92nd minute, Bergwijn was allowed to run at the Al-Nassr backline and the Dutchman cut inside from the left edge of the area and then curled a shot past the diving Bento to send the stadium wild. It could end up being a very important goal in the title race.