Derby Week has delivered once again in the Roshn Saudi League, with a thrilling weekend of drama unspooling right across the country.
From Cristiano Ronaldo’s brace to Karim Benzema’s last-gasp equaliser, or Georginio Wijnaldum’s continued excellence, there were no shortage of storylines and talking points to emerge from the RSL’s second-ever Derby Week, in which the title race took another turn.
Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved so much in the two-and-a-bit years since he signed for Al Nassr.
But one thing has, much to his obvious frustration, eluded him until this point: an RSL win, or even a league goal, against Capital Derby rivals Al Hilal.
But, on Friday, the wait suddenly felt worth it after Al Nassr’s 3-1 triumph against the reigning champions, thrusting Ronaldo and Co back into the title hunt and, in the process, dealing a serious blow to Al Hilal’s fortunes.
Not only did Al Nassr emerge victorious from Kingdom Arena, but it was Ronaldo who inflicted the damage with a superb double to lead his team to a win they’ve wanted so badly. The goals, his 69th and 70th in the RSL, lifted him inside the top 10 in the competition's all-time scorers list.
Still third but now only three points behind Al Hilal, and eight back from Al Ittihad at the summit - both of whom dropped points across the weekend – Al Nassr’s faint title hopes remain alive.
Al Ittihad let slip golden opportunity
Having seen their nearest title challengers potentially lose ground the previous night, the opportunity was there for Al Ittihad to deal Al Hilal a double blow and cement their place at the top of the league - and maybe even put one hand on the top-flight trophy with eight games remaining.
As it was, Al Ittihad can be thankful they extended their lead by a solitary point after Karim Benzema struck deep in stoppage-time in the Sea Derby against Al Ahli in Jeddah to rescue a 2-2 draw.
However, after Al Ittihad’s empathic 4-1 win against Al Hilal in the Saudi Clasico in February, that’s now four draws from their past five RSL matches. With Al Hilal losing two of their past four, Laurent Blanc’s men have let slip a glorious opportunity to be out of sight at the summit.
Al Hilal’s misfortunes continue
For a side that looked completely untouchable all last season, and through the first half of this campaign, Al Hilal suddenly appear rather vulnerable.
The 3-1 defeat to Al Nassr, their first loss to their crosstown rivals since ...
