In the early morning of January 28, Beijing time, the 17th round of the Saudi Arabian League held a key battle, and Qadisiyah defeated Riyadh Crescent 2-1 at home, causing a big upset.
As we all know, Riyadh Crescent was the champion of the Saudi Arabian League last season and has also set a number of unbeaten records. This season, though, they have been challenged. Before this round of matches, Riyadh Crescent and Jeddah United were evenly scored, and coincidentally, these two strong teams were upset in this round.
Away at Cadicia, Riyadh Crescent suffered a critical attack in the opening two minutes, and Aubameyang seized a corner kick opportunity to score from the front post to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Then Riyadh Crescent attacked wildly and equalized in the 50th minute thanks to Leonardo's long-range shot. After that, there was a stalemate on the pitch and both sides were constantly squandering chances. In the third minute of stoppage time, the balance on the field was finally broken, Cadisia counterattacked, Aubameyang received the ball, and in the face of the goalkeeper he calmly pushed the ball, and finally smashed the ball into the corner, and also helped the team to beat Riyadh Crescent 2-1. As Saudi Arabian United's promoted horses, it was the first time in nearly 20 years that Cadishiyah defeated Riyadh Crescent at Saudi Arabia's home stadium, and they finally won the night against the giant opponent.
In another game that ended earlier, there was also an upset. Jeddah United, who are in second place, also lost 1-2 against Damac. Strangely, Jeddah United also conceded an early goal in this game, and the home team's Nkudu scored in the 17th minute to give Damac the lead.
Benzema then stepped up and scored just before half-time to equalise for Jeddah United. Unfortunately, Benzema's goal ultimately failed to save the team. In stoppage time, Nkudu took a long-range shot that deflected off and flew into the back of the net to give Damac a 2-1 thrashing of Jeddah United.
I have to say that the Saudi Arabian League this night was indeed too surprising. No one expected that the top 2 would be upset at the same time and eventually lose the game. With the loss of Riyadh Crescent and Jeddah United, the Saudi Arabian League's title race has also changed somewhat. As of now, Riyadh Victory and Jeddah United are still in the top two, but their advantage is only six points, and Qadisiyah has moved up to third place and is starting to see title hopes.
It is worth mentioning that Riyadh Victory is also a beneficiary, although they have fallen to fourth place, but now the gap between Riyadh Victory and the top 2 has narrowed to 8 points. With the league halfway to go, their title race has undoubtedly been rekindled. Under the leadership of Cristiano Ronaldo, Riyadh Victory has won 3 wins and 1 draw in the last 4 rounds, and they have gradually regained their best form, and next, Ronaldo has the opportunity to continue to attack the Saudi Arabian League title.
Since joining Riyadh Victory, Ronaldo has not won the league title, which has always been his regret. So far this season, Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in Saudi Arabia United, ranking first in the scorer list. In terms of individual performance, Ronaldo has done his best, and next, Riyadh victory also needs Ronaldo to score a steady stream of goals to lead the team to catch up with the top 2 teams. Although Riyadh's hope of winning the championship is not very great, as long as Ronaldo is there, anything is possible!