SPL Week 28: Al Hilal back in title race after Al Ittihad stunned by Al Fateh

Al Arabiya

20-04-2025

The Saudi Pro League is now home to some of football's most recognizable names, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang putting the competition on the global football map. Each week, Al Arabiya English brings you the key storylines and highlights in the race for the 2024-25 Saudi Pro League title.
In Week 28, Al Ittihad slipped up after falling to a shock defeat to Al Fateh, with the result enabling reigning champion Al Hilal to close the gap with the league leader to five points. Behind Al Ittihad and Al Hilal, the race for third place is hotting up after Al Qadsiah beat Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr and Al Ahli hit five past Al Fayha.
Al Ittihad suffers shock Al Fateh loss
This season's rollercoaster Saudi Pro League title race took another twist as Al Ittihad stumbled to a surprise 2-0 defeat away to Al Fateh. Laurent Blanc's side had opened up a seven-point lead over rival Al Hilal last week but this disappointing defeat in al-Ahsa reduced the deficit back down to four, with six matches of the campaign remaining. For Jose Gomes' Al Fateh, it was an impressive third win in four games.
Despite Al Ittihad recording 71 percent possession to Al Fateh's 29 percent, it was the host that was able to finish when it mattered most. It took Al Fateh just nine minutes to take the lead as Mourad Batna pulled the ball back to French winger Amine Sbaï, who thrashed the ball past goalkeeper Mohammed al-Mahasneh. Sbaï has exploded into life in recent weeks and the opener against Al Ittihad was his fourth goal in his past five games – having failed to score in his first 15 matches of the season.
Al Fateh had the chance to double its advantage before half-time after defender Hassan Kadesh fouled Batna inside the penalty area. Batna dusted himself down to successfully convert the penalty but it was immediately disallowed after a replay showed he had – unusually – touched the ball twice to score after slipping. Al Ittihad then squandered a penalty of its own as Fabinho's effort from 12 yards was saved by Nawaf al-Aqidi, who is on loan at Al Fateh from Al Nassr.
Al Ittihad had a goal ruled out in the second half after captain Karim Benzema was adjudged to be offside by a matter of millimeters. And from the resulting free-kick, Fateh grabbed its crucial second as a long put upfield from was latched on to by Matias Vargas, who kept his cool to race clear and slot home. It was the in-form Argentina winger's fifth goal in four matches.
Al-Dawsari double puts Al Hilal back in hunt
Al Hilal took full advantage of Al Ittihad's shock slip-up as a comfortable 3-0 victory over Al Khaleej at the Kingdom Arena moved Jorge Jesus' team to within four points of its title rival. Captain Salem al-Dawsari was his side's hero with a well-taken brace as Al Hilal put a frustrating couple of weeks – including a Riyadh Derby defeat and draw with Al Ettifaq last time out – behind it to storm back into the title race.
It was Al Khaleej that ended Al Hilal's 551-day Pro League unbeaten run four months ago but al-Dawsari helped dish up a dose of revenge for that defeat. The Saudi Arabia national team captain scored first for Al Hilal – which had dominated Al Khaleej from the start – as he fired home from a tight angle on the left-side of the penalty area, following some good interplay with Brazilian winger Kaio César.
Al Khaleej stayed resolutely in the game as goalkeeper Raed Ozaybi produced a series of excellent saves to keep Al Hilal out. But al-Dawsari eventually doubled his tally, and Al Hilal's lead, in the 84th minute, picking up Mitrovic's incisive pass before finishing smartly with his left-foot. There was still time for Mitrovic to add his own name to the scoresheet, too, as the Serbia striker sprung the Al Khaleej offside trap to score his 14th of the season and first in five weeks. Next up for reigning champion Hilal is Al Shabab, with Al Ittihad taking on Al Ettifaq.
Al Qadsiah quashes Al Nassr title hopes
A decent run of recent form in recent weeks – including a morale-boosting Riyadh Derby victory over Al Hilal – had appeared to propel Al Nassr back into the Saudi Pro League title picture. But a damaging 2-1 defeat to Al Qadsiah on Friday all but ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Co's hopes of winning the championship. The loss leaves Nassr eight points behind leader Al Ittihad, with Stefano Pioli's side now likely to switch its focus entirely to the AFC Champions League Elite.
Al Qadsiah went ahead in the first half in Dammam through Turki al-Ammar, who stole in at the back post to tap-in from close range after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's shot was saved by Al Nassr goalkeeper Bento. In the second half, Koen Casteels produced a superb point-blank stop to deny Jhon Duran, but Sadio Mane succeeded where his team-mate failed by grabbing an equalizer in the 84th-minute. The Senegal international coolly slipped the ball under Casteels after a neat through-ball from Otavio.
Three minutes later, however, Aubameyang snatched a dramatic winner – capitalizing on a mistake from Bento to head into an empty net for his 15th goal in all competitions this season. The victory ended a frustrating run of results for Al Qadsiah, which hadn't won in the Saudi Pro League since March 1 – a series of four games that saw Michel's side draw two and lose two to relinquish third place in the table to Al Nassr. There is now an intriguing battle afoot for third place, with Al Nassr currently on 57 points while Al Ahli and Al Qadsiah – chasing its first ACL Elite qualification and also a maiden King's Cup triumph – are just two further back on 55 points.
Best of the rest
A brace each from striker Ivan Toney and defender Roger Ibañez helped Al Ahli to a 5-0 thrashing of Al Fayha in Jeddah. Al Ahli, which is playing in the AFC Champions League Elite quarter-finals next week, raced into a 3-0 lead before half-time as Brazilian center-back Ibañez struck twice. Ex-Brentford forward Toney added a third in first-half stoppage time before netting Al Ahli's fourth with a 68th-minute penalty. Toney's double moved him into third place in the race for the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot – just one goal behind Abderrazak Hamadallah and four off current leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo. Riyad Mahrez completed the rout with Al Ahli's fifth.
Al Raed recorded only its second Saudi Pro League victory since November, ending a two-month winless run in style with a 4-0 dismantling of Al Orboah. All four goals were scored in a 12-minute period either side of half-time as Karim El Berkaoui put Al Raed ahead in first-half stoppage time, before Mehdi Abeid, Amir Sayoud and Yousri Bouzok added further strikes. The win kept the visitor's hopes of Pro League survival alive, though Krešimir Režić's side is still five points off 15th place, which is now occupied by Al Wehda after it leapfrogged Al Orobah.
Al Wehda moved out of the relegation zone, after demonstrating more ruthless finishing than opponent Al Taawoun. Al Wehda only managed three shots on target in the whole game, but converted two of them as a goal in each half from Abdulaziz Noor and Yahya al-Najei secured a valuable 2-0 win in Buraidah. It completed a miserable week for host Al Taawoun, which was eliminated from the AFC Champions League 2 at the semi-final stage midweek by UAE outfit Al Sharjah.
Elsewhere, a pair of first-half penalties from Georges-Kevin N'Koudou inspired Damac to a 3-1 victory at Al Kholood. Damac had won just one of its previous 10 league games going into the contest, but N'Koudou twice kept his cool from 12 yards to give Damac a 2-0 half-time lead – the Cameroon winger's first goals since February 1. Myziane Maolida reduced the deficit for Al Kholood shortly after half-time before Damac captain Nicolae Stanciu grabbed his team's crucial third goal.
Al Ettifaq's impressive recent form continued as it beat Al Riyadh 1-0 in Dammam to move up to seventh in the table. Vitinho's 59th-minute penalty proved the difference between the two teams. Finally, Al Shabab and Al Akhdoud shared an uneventful 0-0 draw that did the latter slightly more favors than the former. The single point kept Al Akhdoud just a point adrift of safety in its bid to avoid demotion to the Saudi First Division.