It was confirmed that English striker Ivan Toney, a player in the first football team of Al-Ahly club, will be absent from the match against Al-Shabab scheduled for Friday evening, within the Saudi Professional League competitions.
Tony's absence represents a technical loss for the Al-Ahly team, in light of his offensive value and ability to exploit opportunities in front of goal, which puts the technical staff before the task of finding a suitable alternative to lead the attack in the upcoming confrontation.
The absence of the English striker comes at a time when Al-Ahly seeks to continue its positive results and enhance its presence in the competition, amid public anticipation of the technical options that the technical staff will rely on to compensate for the absence of the team’s top scorer.
American investor Jerry Cardinale, founder of the Redbird Group, which owns the Italian club AC Milan, revealed that there are talks about the opportunity to invest in the Saudi Al-Nassr Club, confirming that he has received calls to study this opportunity, but the discussions are still in their initial stages.
Cardinale said, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, published on Friday, in response to a question about his group’s interest in buying Al-Nasr Club: “There were talks to evaluate the opportunity related to Al-Nasr, and they contacted me to study it, but we are still in a preliminary stage.”
The American investor revealed his desire to meet Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of Al-Nasr, to learn about his future ambitions after retiring from football, and the extent of his interest in continuing his association with the Saudi club.
He added: “I work a lot in the Middle East, and I would like to meet Ronaldo because I am curious to know what he might want to do when he stops playing, and what the nature of his future interest in the Saudi club is.”
Cardinale confirmed that he will continue to study investment opportunities in multiple clubs, as part of his drive to expand his investments in football, saying: “I will continue to evaluate opportunities for ownership of multiple clubs, taking into account that I already own Toulouse and Milan.”
Cardinale's statements constitute a public confirmation of the existence of communications related to the opportunity to invest in Al-Nasr, without specifically including the nature of the potential deal, whether it is related to purchasing a share in the club or acquiring it entirely.
The owner of “Redbird” did not reveal the identity of the parties that contacted him, the potential financial value of the investment, or the date of moving to more advanced negotiations, only indicating that the matter is still under study.
On Friday evening, all eyes will turn towards the SHG Arena stadium in the capital, Riyadh, where Al-Shabab will clash with its guest, Al-Ahly, in the most prominent matches of the second day of the 12th round of the Saudi Professional League, while Al-Ittihad will be a guest on Abha in the city of Al-Mahalla, and Al-Diriyah will host its counterpart, NEOM, at the “Awal Park” stadium in Riyadh.
The confrontation between Al-Shabab and Al-Ahly is of great importance to the two teams, in light of their different positions in the ranking table. Al-Shabab occupies 12th place with 11 points, collected from 2 victories, 5 draws and 3 defeats, while having a postponed match against Al-Ittihad, while Al-Ahly comes in fifth with 21 points, gained from 7 victories and 3 defeats, and has a postponed match against Al-Nasr.
Al-Shabab enters the confrontation in better spirits compared to its faltering start this season, after it succeeded in improving its results during the last 4 rounds, during which it did not suffer any loss, and collected 8 points from it, an indication of its improved levels and ability to overcome the difficult stage it went through.
The capital team hopes to invest in the ground and crowd factors to continue its positive results, and achieve a victory that will give it an additional push towards advancing in the ranking table, especially since the point difference between the mid-ranking teams gives it the opportunity to improve its position during the coming rounds.
Al-Shabab realizes that its task will not be easy against a competitor who is experiencing a positive period in terms of results, but he is counting on the development he has shown in his recent matches, in addition to his desire to prove his ability to keep up with the teams competing for advanced positions.
On the other hand, Al-Ahly enters the match experiencing one of its best periods this season, after achieving 5 consecutive victories in various competitions, including 3 victories in the league. Which strengthened his confidence and gave him a strong impetus to continue moving up the rankings.
Al-Ahly is looking forward to continuing its series of victories and returning from Riyadh with 3 points, to maintain its position among the leading teams and reduce the gap with competitors, especially since any stumble may affect its efforts to continue approaching the first positions.
Al-Ahly has many names capable of tipping the balance in its favor compared to its host, Al-Shabab. These names are led by the English scorer Ivan Toney, the Brazilian Galeño, and Firas Al-Braikan.
In the city of Abha, Abha hosts its counterpart Al-Ittihad at the “Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City” stadium in Mahalla, in a confrontation that brings together two teams living in completely different circumstances. The homeowners are looking for their first victory and getting out of the spiral of negative results, while the guests are looking forward to continuing their awakening and getting closer to the leading teams.
Abha is going through a difficult stage this season, after suffering a series of failures that kept it in last place with only two points, the last of which was its loss to Al-Faisaly in the postponed match of the 8th round, a result that further complicated its position in the ranking table.
The modest results prompted the club's management to take a decision to dismiss Croatian coach Damir Buric, who led the team to promotion from the first division, and assign his compatriot Theo Perija the task of leading the team during the next stage.
Pereja knows the club's atmosphere, having worked as technical director for the youth groups during the recent period, but he will face a difficult test at the beginning of his mission, when he faces Al-Ittihad, which is packed with distinguished elements and enters the match looking to continue its series of positive results.
On the other hand, Al-Ittihad enters the confrontation in fourth place with 23 points, looking forward to achieving a new victory that strengthens its position in the race for advanced positions.
The Al-Ittihad team regained some of its balance during its last matches, after defeating Al-Ettifaq with a score of 4-1, before surpassing Al-Diriyah with two goals to none in the last round, confirming the improvement of its results at the local level.
Al-Ittihad also returns to local competitions with an additional morale boost, after achieving an important victory away from home over Uzbekistan’s Neftchi with a score of 2-1 in the “AFC Champions League for the Elite” competitions, in a confrontation that witnessed Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri scoring a wonderful goal from a set piece.
In the capital, Riyadh, the “Awal Park” stadium will host the confrontation between Al-Diriyah and NEOM, in a meeting during which the two teams look forward to restoring balance after the discrepancy in their recent results, and to continue competing to improve their positions in the ranking table.
Al-Diriyah enters the match in eighth place with 15 points, after suffering a loss against Al-Ittihad in the last round, and is looking forward to overcoming that result and returning to the path of victories against a competitor ahead of it by 4 points.
As for NEOM, it enters the match in sixth place with 19 points, after regaining the tone of victories locally by defeating Abha in the last round, following the return of its French coach, Christophe Galtier, from suspension, ending a series of faltering results.
However, the team was unable to maintain this positive state in its participation in the Gulf, after it received a sudden loss against Al-Shabab of Oman with a score of 1-3 in the “Gulf Champions League for Clubs” competitions.
NEOM is looking forward to quickly overcoming the effects of the Gulf loss, and achieving a victory that strengthens its position in sixth place, and gives it a morale boost before completing its journey in the tournaments in which it participates.
