Diriyah Saudi Super Cup Starts Today

The Saudi Super Cup football tournament (Diriyah Saudi Super Cup) will start on Monday in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, with the participation of 4 clubs: Ittihad Jeddah, Al Wahda, Al Hilal and Al Nasr. The championship competitions will be held in the UAE city of Abu Dhabi, specifically at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, noting that this is the fourth time that the championship has been held outside Saudi Arabia. The tournament begins with two semi-final matches on Monday, where Al-Ittihad will meet Al-Wahda, while Al-Hilal will clash with its traditional rival Al-Nasr in an exciting derby. The winner of the two matches qualifies for the final, which will be held on Thursday, April 11. The tournament competitions begin with a strong confrontation between Jeddah Union and Al-Wahda, as both teams want to save their season by competing for the title of this tournament. The two teams met in 46 previous matches, where Al-Ittihad succeeded in achieving victory in 34 previous matches with a total of 104 goals against its counterpart, while Al-Wahda was able to achieve victory in only 5 matches with a total of 46 goals and settled the tie as a result of 7 matches. Ittihad Jeddah, the holder of the Saudi Professional League title, hopes to win over Al-Wahda and complete its journey in the tournament in order to save its season, especially since it has become far from the struggle for the league title, as it is in fourth place, 30 points behind leaders Al-Hilal. Al-Ittihad will be required to achieve victory in this match in order to reconcile its fans, especially since it did not achieve victory in the last two league matches, as it lost to Al-Ahly with a clean goal before drawing 0-0 with Al-Taawoun. Al-Ittihad is counting on big stars in its squad, such as Frenchman Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Ahmed Hegazy, Omar Hawsawi, and Romarinho. On the other hand, Al-Wahda enters knowing that it is not a candidate to win the match due to the difference in capabilities and history between the two teams, but the team will cling to its chance in order to win the match. Al-Wahda enters the match suffering from a state of instability, as Al-Wahda coach Georgios Donis confirmed during his statements that he will not go with his team to Abu Dhabi to participate in the Saudi Super Cup, due to his dissatisfaction with the team’s situation in the recent period, but he backed down and traveled with the team. Al-Wahda is experiencing a negative season, as it sits in twelfth place with 31 points in the Saudi League standings. Donis will strive to restore stability to the team in this tournament by performing well and achieving the desired results. The most important and exciting match will be the “Riyadh Derby” match, which brings together Al Hilal and Al Nassr. Al Hilal has the record for winning the Saudi Super Cup, having won the title 3 times in the 2015, 2018, and 2021 editions, while the World Cup won the title twice in the 2019 and 2020 editions. Excitement will be present in the match, especially since the two teams have many international stars. Al Hilal has, for example, Moroccan goalkeeper Yacine Bounou, Ruben Neves, Sergei Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic, in addition to the injured Brazilian Neymar. On the other hand, Al-Nasr has the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, Aymeric Laporte, goalkeeper David Ospina and Marcelo Brozovic, in addition to the Senegalese Sadio Mane. Al-Hilal previously faced Al-Nasr in 174 matches in various official tournaments, and the leader prevailed with 69 victories, while Al-Alamy won 61 matches, and the Riyadh derby was decided in a tie 44 times. Al-Hilal will compete in the Saudi Super Championship this year as the 2023 King’s Cup holder, while Al-Nasr qualified as runner-up in the Saudi League last season, in which Al-Ittihad was crowned.Al-Hilal aims to win and reach the final, in order to continue its exceptional journey this season, as it aims to win the league and the AFC Champions League titles as well, while Al-Nasr seeks to reconcile its fans with the Super Cup, after its mission to win the league was complicated, in addition to bidding farewell to the AFC Champions League. In terms of numbers, Al-Hilal will be the favorite to win this match, especially since Al-Nasr has not been able to beat Al-Hilal since December 2021 when Al-Alamy won with two clean goals, and since then Al-Hilal has not lost in the next five matches against Al-Nasr, including winning four matches. . Al-Nasr also failed to score goals in three of the last four matches, including the last two matches. Despite Al-Hilal’s numerical advantage, the level of the two teams in recent matches makes it difficult to predict the name of the winner in this match, especially since Al-Hilal won the last two league matches over Al-Akhdood 3-0, and Al-Khaleej 4-1. On the other hand, Al-Nasr won over Abha 8-0 and over Damac. 1-zero.