RIYADH — Rudi Garcia, the French coach of Al-Nassr, is on the verge of leaving the Riyadh-based club, due to the unhealthy atmosphere he has been experiencing with the club's management in recent days, local media reported. The club's management has so far not announced its final decision in the case of the coach, according to well-informed sources. The 59-year-old Frenchman is waiting to secure an alternative placement in an international club and then search for the nearest legal way out to end the relationship between the two parties. The sources revealed that talking about appointing his assistant as technical director of the team is an unwelcome step for Al-Nassr, given the club's desire to appoint an international coach to keep pace with the presence of a superstar like the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo. It is likely that the club management, headed by Musalli Almuammar, will be forced to continue with Garcia until the next derby match against Al-Hilal on April 18, within the 25th round of the Saudi Pro League. The Frenchman faced widespread criticism from the fans of Al-Nassr recently, especially after it stumbled in the last round with a draw against Al-Feiha, in addition to the average performance by the team in most matches, which led to losing the top spot in the league after suffering defeat from its rival Al-Ittihad, when the latter eliminated it earlier from the Saudi Super Cup. Al-Nassr signed a contract with Garcia, the former coach of Lyon, Marseille and Roma, at the beginning of the season, specifically in July 2022, replacing Miguel Angel Russo, with a contract that extends for two seasons. Despite guiding Al-Nassr to seven wins from their past eight Saudi Pro League games, his failure to claim top spot in the division has left him fighting for his future at the club. Reports of an uneasy relationship between Garcia and Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nassr in December after having his contract at Manchester United cancelled by mutual consent, have also placed pressure on the Frenchman. In the Saudi Pro League, Al-Nassr played 26 matches in all competitions, winning 18 matches, losing three and drawing five matches. It lost the Super Cup Championship, and finally the top position of the Roshen SPL. It is noteworthy that the Frenchman Garcia criticized the performance of his players after its draw with Al-Feiha in the confrontation in which Ronaldo's footprint had not felt, with his score stopped at 11 goals in 10 league matches, as well as his colleague Anderson Talisca, who shares the top scorer in the competition with 16 goals. Al-Nassr suffered a huge blow to their hopes of winning the Saudi Professional League title after a goalless draw with lowly Al-Feiha, and Ronaldo left the pitch in anger after a frustrating performance on Sunday. He took off the captain armband and left it in his hand. On the other hand Al-Ittihad took the opportunity to widen the gap with Al-Nassr to three points by defeating Al-Wehda 2-1. Al-Ittihad had an advantage in the head-to-head confrontation with Al-Nassr, which finished in second place while the last seven rounds are remaining. Garcia, told the Saudi Sports Company (SSC) after the team's draw with Al-Feiha: "The result is definitely bad, and we are not happy. We had chances, but out of 18 shots there were only three effective shots. The result is definitely bad and we are not happy." "I don't feel satisfied with the players' performance. I asked them to play at the same level as the last game (in the 5-0 victory against Al-Adalah), but this didn't happen," Garcia said. Al-Nassr, who won the title for the last time in 2019, will play a crucial game next Tuesday against Al-Hilal, the defending champion and fourth in the standings, which may determine the race for the title. Both teams have played 34 matches till date. Al-Hilal won 17 matches and Al-Nassr won 10 matches while seven matches ended in a draw. "There are seven games left, we will try to recover, and we realize that it's not easy after we lost two points, but everything is possible," Garcia added.
