Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad light the quarter-finals of Al-Arabiya in the “Saudi Classico”
On Saturday evening, the eyes of the Saudi and Arab fans turn towards the King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Taif. This is to follow up on the summit confrontation and the historic Saudi Clasico between Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad, which will take place this time in the framework of the quarter-finals of the King Salman Cup for Arab Clubs.
The confrontation is considered an early final, especially in light of the presence of the big names that each team attracted during the summer Mercato; This means that each side will enter a different squad than the last match they had in the league championship last May, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Al-Ittihad reached this role with the full mark, after it achieved three consecutive victories through which it issued the first group, and it was at the expense of Tunisian Esperance Sports Club 2-1, Tunisian Sfaxien 1-0, and Iraqi Police 2-1. While Al-Hilal qualified with great difficulty after finishing runner-up in the second group with 4 points, as it tied negatively with Al-Ahly Tripoli of Libya, then lost to the Qatari Al-Sadd 2-3, before defeating Moroccan Wydad 2-1.
However, Al-Ittihad realizes that its opponent will be in a completely different face, and therefore it will enter the match with all its cards for one task, which is to reserve the semi-final ticket for the tournament, which it won once in the year 2005.
Al-Ittihad will restore the stars of its midfield, French Ngolo Kante and Egyptian Tariq Hamed, after recovering from injury, to join a constellation of stars, led by Frenchman Karim Benzema.
On the other hand, Al-Hilal did not convince its fans during the group stage because of its fluctuating level, but it hopes to return to its normal path and touch the title that it won in 1994 and 1995.
The match is expected to witness the first appearance of the Brazilian player, Malcolm Philippe, to join the rest of the foreign stars of the team, such as the Serbian midfielder Sergey Milinkovic-Savic, the Portuguese Robin Neves and the Brazilian Michel Delgado.
In a conference that began with hugs, Al-Ittihad coach Nuno Santo and his counterpart Al-Hilal Jesus dodged about the issue of involving the two stars, Abdul Razzaq Hamdallah and Malcolm, in the El Clasico match.
Benzema is the most dangerous threat to the blue goal, “Al-Ittihad Club.” Neves is one of the most important crescent papers in the match, “Al-Hilal Club.”
The two Portuguese coaches met before the start of the press conference, which took place to shed light on the great meeting, and they exchanged friendly conversations under the eyes of the media.
Nuno Santo, the Al-Ittihad coach, confirmed that the participation of the striker, Hamdallah, is not confirmed, and he said in the conference: Hamdallah suffered some pain due to the pressure of the matches and did not participate in the training session on Saturday, and we will see the possibility of his participation in the last training session on Friday.
Santo added: We have a training session on Friday and we will work through it to put the finishing touches before the match. And Santo indicated that he will prepare for the El Clasico match, just as he prepares for any confrontation. As he works on the smallest details of each opponent he plays against and studies it from all sides.
On the other hand, Jesus confirmed that his team is still in the process of building and the arrival of new players, and he hopes that President Fahd bin Nafel will end the offensive contracts as soon as possible.
Jesus said: We qualified for the quarter-finals, but we are still in the preparation stage. We are happy to reach this stage. We will work to go further. We know Al-Ittihad very well, a team that is not easy, and we are continuing with the same coach from last year.
And he added, speaking of offensive options: We will seek to involve Malcolm “if that is possible.” We also have Abdullah Al-Hamdan, a young player who can add now or in the future. He can play in two positions as a first or late striker and gives solutions to the coach, and he will develop a lot in the future.
In another match, the Qatari dam will meet the Iraqi police at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City stadium in Abha.
The Qatari team is looking forward to continuing to shine in order to reserve a seat in the semi-finals, after the remarkable results it achieved in the first round, ending the second group competitions with a lead after two victories over the star-studded Saudi Al-Hilal 3-2 and over Al-Ahly Tripoli of Libya with a clean goal, after he had started the campaign. In a negative tie with Moroccan Wydad Casablanca.
On the other hand, Al-Shorta finished second in Group A, despite losing to the Saudi Al-Ittihad 2-1, benefiting from a 1-0 victory over Sfaxien, before drawing without goals with Esperance to achieve the surprise and qualify at the expense of the two Tunisian teams.
Al Sadd will be a candidate for victory and qualification, especially in light of the remarkable brilliance of its new professionals, the Colombian Mateus Uribe, and the Ecuadorian Goncalo Plata, who scored the goal of the deadly victory over Al Hilal, in addition to the effective contribution of the Algerian scorer Baghdad Bounedjah and the Qatari international star Akram Afif.
Portuguese coach Bruno Miguel’s team relied on defensive solidity, especially after Moroccan Roman Sayes showed greater physical readiness after his participation as a substitute in the last two matches.
On the other hand, the Iraqi team depends on closing its back areas, in exchange for transformations that gave it the first victory over Sfaxien and a draw with Esperance, but it did not withstand the Saudi Federation and its French striker Karim Benzema, the best player in the world for the year 2022, but the police performed well.
Miguel said, “Our focus is on confronting the police. We set aside the first round, despite the great motivation left by the rising technical level in the three matches we played in the tournament, and we are now looking forward to completing the journey.”
2023-08-05 01:23:27
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