He Al Ittihad of Marcelo Gallardo had everything to hit in the semi-final of the King’s Cup of Championsbut he was not fine in the final touch after playing 11 against 10 for more than 50 minutes, and lost 2-1 to Al Hilal in the King Abdullah Sports City, in one of the last objectives that the current winner of the 2022/23 First Division tournament had. He Doll He experienced grief in a special way and his most direct assistant, Matias Biscay, was expelled. He Al Nassr of Cristiano Ronaldo will face this Wednesday from 3:00 p.m. (Argentine time) to Al Khaleej looking to be the second finalist.
The Tigers seemed to twist the last negative results with two defeats against the Blue Power for the local league, the Saudi Arabia Super Cup and the Asian Champions, because they took the lead on the scoreboard after seven minutes with the goal of Abderrazak Hamdallahbut the referee annulled the play at the request of the VAR due to his offside and controversy arose in Jeddah, because the player had taken advantage a rejection by Kalidou Koulibaly to specify its definition, but The authorities collected the off side because they considered it a detour.
The first emotion of the commitment had to wait until 24′ with a great intervention from Sergej Milinković-Savić and the subsequent shooting of Michael after a fake in front of the goalkeeper, Abdullah Al-Mayouf. Five later (29′), Al-Mayouf blocked a one-on-one with the attacker to prevent the second goal and received the approval of the technology at 35′ when the former Barcelona’s celebration was annulled. Malcolmdue to the prohibited position of Yasir Al-Shahrani.
Already upon the closing of the initial stage, Al Hilal was complicated in a favorable procedure because Milinković-Savić was shown the red card for a mistimed strike against Ahmed Al-Ghamdi’s right ankle. In numerical superiority, Gallardo’s team showed its best version thanks to N’Golo Kanté. Without Benzema (he did not play due to muscle inflammation), the man with a past in the Chelsea he put the equipment on his shoulder, but Hamdallah failed in the definition for regret of the Doll. The Argentine coach showed a face of disbelief seconds after the forward missed a very clear one-on-one in the six-yard box against Bono in the seventh minute of added time..
With the obligation to overcome the key to access the final, Al Ittihad introduced two changes, including the entry of Romarinhoalthough there was a surprising drop to face the complement. Matias BiscayMarcelo Gallardo’s right hand on the bench, was expelled by the judge. Moments before, the transmission cameras They managed to detect a close dialogue between the collaborator and the referee in the tunnel before the fieldalthough the reasons for the disciplinary sanction were not clear.
With the passage of the stopwatch, the Tigers They showed every possible merit to try to change the adverse record against the leader of the Saudi Pro League. And they reached it at 67 minutes from an excellent shot from Hamdallah. From there, his opponent entered a zone of confusion and the locals forgave more than necessary. At 70′, They disallowed a goal from the striker for offside by Fawaz Al-Sqoor, An advance by Kanté was inches away from a stick (73′) and Bono excelled to deflect an attempt by Jota into the corner (79′). From that corner came a lethal counterattack by Al Hilal concluded by Saud Abdulhamid (2-1).
It is the sixth defeat of Marcelo Gallardo in front of his colleague, Jorge Jesus, in equal pairings. He faced him in the final lost by River Plate in view of Flamengo in the Copa Libertadores 2019 added to the five meetings recorded between the two in Asia. In addition, it is the second consecutive fall of the Doll after last Friday’s 1-3 against Al Shabab and it is the 11th setback in 28 duels (14 wins and 3 draws). These numbers occur in the midst of the rumors that dot the former coach of the Millionaire about a possible early departure of Saudi Arabiadespite having a contract until 2025.
In this scenario, criticism rested on the figure of Gallardo. One of the harshest messages was issued by the profile @IttiManiawhich follows the club’s news and detailed numerous setbacks of the cycle with elimination in the Club World Cup and poor results against teams of the stature of their current opponent, added to the Al Nassr of Cristiano Ronaldo. The publication was accompanied by a image of the technical director in black and white.
The only objective of the season for the Al Ittihad becomes finishing in the top three of the Saudi Pro League, a local contest with five dates left. At the moment, It is in fifth place with 50 points, 2 behind Al Ahli, which occupies the last ticket to the Asian Champions League. This Friday, they will face Abha from 3:00 p.m. (Argentine time). Afterwards, they will host Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq, visit Al Khaleej, be home to Damac and finish against Al Nassr in Riyadh.
