MAKKAH — Al-Raed secured a 3-1 victory over their hosts Al-Ittihad in the Saudi League on Saturday, deepening the woes of the defending champions, who played most of the match with ten players following the early dismissal of Madallah Al-Olayan. The opening minutes of the first half were eventful, with Al-Ittihad nearly taking the lead four minutes in, before a penalty was awarded to Al-Raed in the tenth minute due to a foul committed by Al-Olayan on Tavares, for which Al-Olayan received a yellow card. However, upon review by the video assistant referee (VAR), it was determined that the foul occurred outside the penalty area and warranted a direct red card for Al-Olayan, forcing his team to continue the match with ten players. Karim El Berkaoui found the net twice, scoring a goal in each half, and Mohammad Al-Dosari added a goal towards the end of regular time. Romarinho scored the lone goal for Al-Ittihad. Following their second consecutive loss and fifth in the league this season, Al-Ittihad's points are frozen at 28, placing them sixth in the standings. Meanwhile, Al-Raed's points rose to 16, putting them in 15th place. The defeat comes after Al-Ittihad's loss to Egypt's Al-Ahly in the FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinals. Al-Ittihad entered the match with a bench of only five players, including two goalkeepers, featuring Saleh Al-Amri, Farha Al-Shammari, and Haroon Kamara. Argentinian coach Marcelo Gallardo, who recently took over the team, appeared frustrated with the worsening situation. The team has been weakened by injuries due to poor preseason preparation. The local and foreign player choices, which didn't meet the club's fans' expectations, showed their weakness and inadequacy with the start of the season, despite the team having players like Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kanté, and Fabinho. The recent poor performance of Al-Ittihad will likely compel the club to actively participate in the winter transfer window to improve the technical situation of the team and address the poor player selection choices.
