Bergwijn's late strike ensures Al Ittihad end 2024 at the top

Al Ittihad will end 2024 as the Roshn Saudi League leaders thanks to a statement 2-1 victory against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr at King Abdullah Sports City on Friday.

A thrilling clash in Jeddah in front of a season-record 55,120 fans saw both former Real Madrid stalwarts Ronaldo and Karim Benzema find the back of the net, but it was the latter who celebrated at the final whistle after Bergwijn's dramatic late winner for the hosts.

Laurent Blanc’s men went into the game off the back of a seven-match winning run that had them two points clear at the summit, while their visitors from Riyadh had won only two of their past five matches in the competition and risked drifting further off pace.

The first sighting at goal came at the midway point of the first half - and it saw Al Nassr goalkeeper Bento beaten. Benzema picked up Houssem Aouar’s improvised pass down the left and beat his marker before squaring for Bergwijn to tap home, but the roars of the huge home crowd was interrupted by a raised flag against the Frenchman.

Minutes later, Bento was called upon to make a fine diving save to tip away Benzema’s powerful strike from outside the Al Nassr penalty area after some fine footwork from winger Abdulrahman Al Obud. The Saudi started on the right in the absence of the injured Moussa Diaby.

The Al Nassr section of support thought their team had taken the lead six minutes before half-time, when a defence-splitting Marcelo Brozovic pass sent Sadio Mane through on goal. The former Liverpool winger rounded goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic but slipped before he could apply the finish, much to the frustration of the away fans.

The second half started with a bang as Blanc rejigged his line-up, switching to three at the back with the introduction of centre-back Abdulelah Al Amri to face his former team, replacing Al Obud. Having pushed up into a right wing-back position, Muhannad Al Shanqiti moved into space inside Al Nassr’s box and crossed low for Benzema, who was perfectly positioned at the far post to finish past Bento and open the scoring.

Al Ittihad fans’ joy was short-lived, though. Less than 120 seconds later, Otavio fed youngster Angelo down the middle. The Brazilian beat goalkeeper Rajkovic but was denied by a goal-line clearance from Danilo Pereira. However, unfortunately for the Al Ittihad centre-back, the ball fell to Angelo again and, this time, he found Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar made no mistake from 10 yards to restore parity.

Almost instantly, Al Shanqiti found himself one-on-one with Bento when he was picked out by Bergwijn, but the full-back’s powerful effort was parried away by an exceptional save at the near post.

The game looked headed to end in a stalemate, until in the 91st minute, Albanian left-back Mario Mitaj cut inside and fed Bergwijn on the left side of the visitors' area. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax wide-man shifted onto his right and curled his effort into the bottom corner as the stadium erupted with the elation of the home crowd.

Al Ittihad’s win takes them up to 36 points and ensures they will stay as RSL leaders ahead of the month-long winter break regardless of the result of Al Hilal’s match against Al Raed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a second league defeat for Stefano Pioli’s men, coupled with Al Qadsiah’s win against Al Kholood earlier in the day, means Al Nassr drop to fourth place, 11 points off the pace going into the RSL pause.

Meanwhile, Benzema’s opener takes him to double digits for the campaign, his 10th goal bettering his tally from the entirety of last season (nine), while Ronaldo also hit 10 to remain level with his former teammate - and two goals behind current top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic of Al Hilal.