With Milinkovic's hat-trick, Riyadh Crescent won 19 consecutive victories in all competitions after beating Abha 7-0 in the 18th round of the Saudi League, and also gave them an unbeaten league record of 16 wins and 2 draws, far ahead of Riyadh Victory with Cristiano Ronaldo, Jeddah United with Benzema and Jeddah National with Firmino, dominating the Saudi league. With less than halfway through the season, it looks like it's only a matter of time before Riyadh Crescent wins the league, and it means that Ronaldo will have two consecutive league titles.
In the summer transfer window, the four giants of the Saudi league, Riyadh Crescent, Riyadh Victory, Jeddah United and Jeddah National, invested heavily in the introduction of many top stars in the European league, including Neymar, Benzema, Milinkovic, Brozovic, Mane, Mahrez, Kante and Firmino and many other stars have switched to the Saudi league, the Saudi league has a faint trend of becoming the "sixth league" in world football, and Ronaldo joined Riyadh Victory half a year earlier than these stars at the beginning of the year.
They signed Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain for 90 million euros, Malcom from Zenit for 60 million euros, Ruben Neves from Wolves for 55 million euros, Mitrovic from Fulham for 52.6 million euros, Milinkovic from Lazio for 40 million euros, Koulibaly from Chelsea for 23 million euros, and Moroccan goalkeeper Bounou from Sevilla for 21 million euros, they could have signed a full starting 11-man squad.
The above 7 new signings, as well as Michael, a Brazilian foreign aid who was in the team in January 2022, a total of 8 foreign aids, plus many Saudi internationals in the team, make Riyadh Crescent a set of 7 foreign aid + 4 Saudi international starting lineup, and the total value of the team has reached 230 million euros, such a lineup is quite competitive even in European football. What is the concept of 230 million euros? This team can be ranked 5th out of 20 teams in La Liga, 6th out of 18 teams in the Bundesliga, 6th out of 20 teams in Ligue 1, and 10th out of 20 teams in Serie A.
Although Neymar only played 5 games after joining Riyadh Crescent, contributing 1 goal and 2 assists before being reimbursed for the season due to injury during the Brazilian national team game, Riyadh Crescent can still line up goalkeeper Bounou in most games, defender Koulibaliga 3 Saudi internationals, midfielders Milinkovic and Ruben Neves, midfielders Michael, Malcolm and Saudi international Dawasari, striker Mitrovic The combination of 11 starters is worth a total of 170 million - Between 180 million, it is almost 5 times, 10 times, or even 20 times the total value of the opponent team, how can this be played?
At the beginning of the season, Riyadh Crescent, which was still in the run-in stage of the squad, lost to the Champions League team Dynamo Kyiv in a friendly match, and in the friendly Al-Arab Champions League, Riyadh Crescent lost to Qatar League champion Saad in the group stage, and lost to Cristiano Ronaldo's Riyadh Victory in the final, which is also the only three defeats of Riyadh Crescent in all competitions this season, including friendlies. And after the start of the Saudi league and the AFC Champions League, Riyadh Crescent started the road to an unbeaten season.
In the Saudi league, Riyadh Crescent only drew with Fayha and Damac in the 2nd and 7th rounds, and won the remaining 16 league games, ranking first in the Saudi league with an unbeaten record of 16 wins and 2 draws, during which the other three giants of the Saudi league Riyadh Victory (3:0 at home), Jeddah United (4:3 away) and Jeddah National (3:1 at home) were all defeated by Riyadh Crescent. Since winning the eighth round of the league against Yadh Youth, Riyadh Crescent has won all 11 consecutive league games and is currently top of the Saudi league table with 50 points, 10 points ahead of Riyadh Victory (1 game less), 13 points ahead of Jeddah National, and 22 points ahead of defending champions Jeddah United (2 games less). Riyadh Crescent scored the most goals in the league with 57 goals and conceded the fewest in the league with nine, and Aleksandar Mitrovic also equaled Cristiano Ronaldo, who was leading the scorers chart at the start of the season with 16 goals.
In the AFC Champions League, Riyadh Crescent, which is in the same group as Uzbestan's Namangan New Year, Iran's Mazandaran and India's Mumbai City, can be called a dimensionality reduction blow, and qualified ahead of schedule with an unbeaten record of 5 wins and 1 draw. If Riyadh Crescent can reach the AFC Champions League finals, then judging from their performance in the AFC Champions League group stage, the only teams in East Asia that can cause problems for Riyadh Crescent may be South Korea's Pohang Iron and JFL's Kawasaki Frontale. If it weren't for this season's AFC Champions League or the East and West Asian group stage, I am afraid there would be two Saudi leagues competing for the title.
In the Saudi King's Cup in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Crescent also made it to the semi-finals and will compete for the title with the winner of Riyadh Victory, Saihat Bay and Jeddah United and Faisari. With Riyadh Crescent's strong strength and recent excellent form, it is likely to win the AFC Champions League, Saudi League and Saudi King's Cup treble at the end of the season.
Riyadh Crescent's excellent form is obviously not good news for Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo joined Riyadh Victory in January 2023 after terminating his contract with Manchester United, becoming the first superstar of the Saudi league, but Ronaldo's debut season in the Saudi league was only runners-up in the Saudi league. At the beginning of this season, Ronaldo led the team to win the championship of the Arab League, which is also the first championship won by Ronaldo in Riyadh, but the weight of the Arab Champions League in the nature of friendly matches is obviously not comparable to the league championship. After losing the first two rounds of the league, Ronaldo led Riyadh to victory to a 20-game unbeaten run in all competitions, not only topping the AFC Champions League group stage, but also catching up in the Saudi league to second place in the league.
Until the 15th round of the Saudi League, the Saudi League ushered in the top battle of Riyadh Crescent and Riyadh Victory, and finally the Riyadh Crescent at home won 3:0 Yadh Victory, winning the derby while widening the difference between the two sides again. With Riyadh Crescent in such good and consistent form, it is clear that Ronaldo has a good chance of dreaming of the league title again.
Note: The picture comes from the Internet.