The Saudi Pro League 2023-24 season gets underway this weekend, with Al Ettifaq hosting Al-Nassr on Monday evening.
The hosts will aim to improve on last season's seventh-placed finish, while Al-Nassr will expect to challenge after finishing second last time around.
Match preview
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Having struggled to rediscover their glory days during the 1980's, when they won two domestic titles and two Arab Club Champions Cup's, Al Ettifaq have ramped up the initiative by appointing former England and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard as their new manager.
The 43-year-old, who began his managerial career in fine style by finally ending Rangers' Scottish Premiership drought in 2021 before going on to struggle with Aston Villa, has managed to attract his former international and club team-mate Jordan Henderson as The Commandos' most eye-catching summer signing for a fee in the region of £12m.
Former Lyon striker Moussa Dembele and Scotland defender Jack Hendry have also joined the club, with Sweden international Robin Quaison likely to be licking his lips at the prospect of playing alongside more established names within European footbal.
However, with several of the other more established teams in the Saudi Pro League spending significantly more money than Gerrard's side in recent times, their aspirations for the forthcoming campaign may need to be on the modest side if they are to avoid major disappointment.
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Indeed, their forthcoming opponents Al-Nassr can call upon one of the greatest players the beautiful game has ever witnessed in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo, while Sadio Mane will line-up alongside him in their attack after signing from Bayern Munich for around £25m earlier this month.
Seko Fofana, Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles have also been recruited to further improve their squad depth, with Luis Castro set to lead this highly talented unit after being poached from Botafogo last month.
The 61-year-old performed remarkably well in Brazil, helping Botafogo secure an incredibly healthy lead at the top of Serie A this season, while he is unbeaten from six matches in charge at his new team so far after lifting the Arab Club Champions Cup on Saturday.
Castro's side had trailed 1-0 to Al-Hilal following Michael's 51st-minute strike at the King Fahd Stadium, but cometh the hour, cometh the man as Ronaldo levelled the proceedings 16 minutes from the end of normal time, before bagging the winner during extra-time. The triumph was even more remarkable considering that Al-Nassr went down to nine men when Abdulelah Al-Amri and Nawaf Boushal both saw red late on.
After missing out on winning their 10th Saudi Pro League title by five points last season, Castro and his players will have genuine belief that they can help the club move into double figures in that respect this time around.
Team News
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Al Ettifaq are set to hand Henderson, Dembele and Hendry their competitive debuts on Monday, with Gerrard likely to hand Henderson the captaincy given his wealth of experience.
Quaison has bagged 13 goals in 47 league games since moving to Saudi Arabia in 2021, and he is likely to lead the hosts' attack alongside Dembele.
Al-Nassr, meanwhile, may be forced into making some changes with only around 48 hours to recover since beating Al-Hilal in the Arab Club Champions Cup final on Saturday, although Ronaldo will not want to be used from the substitutes' bench even though he will turn 39-years-old in February.
Pity Martinez and former Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina are expected to remain sidelined through injury.
Al Ettifaq possible starting lineup:
Victor; Al-Mousa, Tisserand, Hendry, Al-Hawsawi; Al-Kuwaykibi, Henderson, Ozdemir, Vitinho; Dembele, Quaison
Al-Nassr possible starting lineup:
Alaqidi; Al Ghanam, Alawjami, Alamri, Konan; Fofana, Brozovic, Al-Khaibari; Talisca, Ronaldo, Mane
We say: Al Ettifaq 1-1 Al-Nassr
With Al-Nassr having very little time to rest and recover due to their involvement in the Arab Club Champions Cup final on Saturday, Al Ettifaq will sense an opportunity to cause an upset on the opening weekend.
However, the visitors clearly have far more attacking firepower than Gerrard's side, and we believe they are more than capable of avoiding defeat at worst despite their clear disadvantage here.
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