The EN captain had a bad evening this Friday, with his substitution at half-time in the Al Ahly Jeddah-Damac FC 4/2 match.
While it was thought that he was taken off because of his poor performance in the first half, Riyad Mahrez swept everything aside a few hours later in a post he published on his X account after the end of the match: ”It’s a good victory for the team tonight, I’m very happy for us, but for my part, it’s been difficult in the last two matches.” Then justifying the reasons for these poor performances in the last two matches played with Al Ahly Jeddah: ”I suffer from bronchitis, and I need to rest before I get back to my level and make you proud again. We are together.” According to a Saudi media outlet, Mahrez is the victim of a virus, the same one that recently forced Cristiano Ronaldo to miss a match against an Iraqi team.
The story of the scarf? Here is his version
In addition to his poor performance, which he will justify by the health concerns that have been bothering him in recent days, Riyad Mahrez was at the center of a controversy. The Ahlaouis criticized him for having, unlike his teammates, refused to wear the national holiday scarf in Saudi Arabia during the anthem. ”No one gave me the scarf before the anthem, I only got it after …”, he explained, still on his X account. The version given by Riyad Mahrez on this story made Al Ahly fans react, who once they learned of his version, expressed their support on social networks and their wishes to see him back in his best form very soon. Being the big star of the team, he obviously arouses a lot of expectations among the club’s supporters, who are aware that when he is in excellent form, he can do great things and lift their club to the top of the table. Certainly after his victory on Friday, Al Ahly Jeddah has climbed back to 5th place in the Saudi Pro but for the supporters, having a star like Mahrez, it is quite legitimate that they are more demanding of him compared to the other players in the team. Moreover, he committed in another tweet on Friday evening to bring joy back to the Ahlaoui fans who took him at his word of course. However, let’s not ignore the fact that when his team plays, all eyes are on him and that his performance is scrutinized in particular by Saudi TV consultants who have not spared him from their criticism recently. If he is not at 100% of his abilities, Riyad Mahrez would do better to ask his coach to let him rest because if he had not published this tweet where he revealed that he played while he was sick (bronchitis), the criticism would not have faded!
- S.
