While Al Ittihad lead the way in the Roshn Saudi League, it’s not the only front on which they are fighting for silverware this season.
The RSL frontrunners are also one of the final four teams aiming for King’s Cup glory, who will battle it out for a place in the showpiece during this week’s all-important semi-finals.
Al Ittihad take on Al Shabab at Alinma Stadium on Tuesday, while in the other last-four clash, on Wednesday, Al Qadsiah enter red-hot favourites against Al Raed, the team currently occupying last spot in the RSL table.
So, with that in mind, we take a look at both semi-finals and breakdown the chances of all four teams.
Al Ittihad vs Al Shabab - Tuesday
On paper, this should be the most competitive fixture of the two, involving teams that sit at present in the top six of the RSL, albeit each with contrasting levels of form coming in.
After their emphatic 4-1 win against Al Hilal in last month’s Saudi Clasico, many assumed Al Ittihad might run away with the league title.
However, three straight draws kept the chasing pack in touch and, last time out before the international break, only a 101st-minute penalty saved their blushes against Al Riyadh. Saleh Al Shehri’s spot kick snapped Al Ittihad’s winless run.
It was a costly victory, though, with attacking duo Steven Bergwin and Houssem Aouar picking up injuries that will keep them sidelined for the immediate future.
With 20 goals and 10 assists between them this season, the duo’s absence will be felt sorely by manager Laurent Blanc; not only for this game, but also for the games ahead as the league title goes down to the wire.
Al Shabab, on the other hand, have won three of their past four in the RSL to keep alive their top-four chances. Indeed, last time out, they put six past Al Orobah to enter the international break high on confidence.
Fatih Terim’s men also take comfort from the fact they’ve won two of their past three encounters with Al Ittihad. While both of those victories came last season during a torrid year for the then-defending RSL champions, they are wins nonetheless.
Yet, if Al Shabab are to taste victory and progress to a first King’s Cup final since 2014, they are going to need captain Abderrazak Hamdallah to deliver against a former employer where he created so many lasting memories - not least during the title-winning season of 2022-23.
The Moroccan international, who joined Al Shabab from Al Ittihad in the summer, has been in vintage form this term as he chases becoming the all-time leading scorer in the RSL.
The 34-year-old has 17 goals already through 2024-25 and looks set to break through the 20-goal barrier for the fifth time in six seasons. The only campaign in which Hamdallah has fallen short of that was last season, although he still scored 19.
It’s a consistency that is almost without peer, and age is showing no signs of slowing down Hamdallah. Quite the opposite in fact. In the 12 games since the turn of the year, he’s bagged as many goals to sit equal second in the race for the 2024-25 golden boot.
Meanwhile, Karim Benzema is only one behind in the season’s scoring charts, with the Al Ittihad captain enjoying his best campaign since making the switch from Real Madrid 18 months ago.
Benzema is leading from the front for Al Ittihad, with 16 goals and eight assists. But with two of the team’s key attacking quartet sidelined, more of the attacking burden will fall on the 37-year-old’s shoulders.
So far this season, Benzema has shown he can live with that responsibility, and with the lure of silverware on the horizon, not to mention qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite, nothing will be left on the pitch at the end of this one.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Al Ittihad faced second-tier sides in the Round of 32 and last 16, before coming through a Saudi Clasico against Al Hilal in the quarter-finals. They advanced following a thrilling penalty shootout.
Al Shabab have had a tougher run - on paper, at least – having met RSL sides the whole way through. However, they have been able to win each game by a two-goal margin, those coming against Al Kholood (3-1), Al Riyadh (2-0) and Al Fayha (3-1).
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Al Qadsiah vs Al Raed - Wednesday
At first glance, this appears a lopsided match-up featuring one of this season’s high flyers Al Qadsiah, who are fourth on the table and, despite defeat before the international break, one of the RSL’s most in-form teams across the past few months.
Al Raed, in contrast, are at the other end of the scale: they have lost 12 of their past 14 league matches to plummet to the bottom of the table. Remember, they were as high as seventh after eight rounds of the season.
But, fortunately for Al Raed, cup fixtures are a different beast. In a one-off knockout game, anything can happen.
You only have to look back to the 2023 King’s Cup, when Al Wehda eliminated Al Nassr and a freshly arrived Cristiano Ronaldo from the last four. In the final, Al Hilal needed a 99th-minute equaliser and penalties to see them off and seal the trophy.
David-versus-Goliath battles are what cup competitions the world over survive on, so Al Raed enter Wednesday’s encounter with the hope they too can cause an upset of that scale against a side featuring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nacho.
And, in Amir Sayoud, Karim El Berkaoui, Mohammed Fouzair and Saleh Al Amri, they have players capable of causing damage.
While this season is something of an annus horribilis for the Buraidah club, you have to go back only to last season when that quartet combined for 31 goals and 11 assists. Clearly, they are proven at this level.
Still, Al Raed will have to do it against the team with the best defensive record in the RSL this season.
Al Qadsiah’s stunning rise up the table, having been promoted last year, has been built on the back of a resolute backline, one marshalled expertly by former Real Madrid captain, Nacho. In 25 league matches this season, they’ve conceded 21 goals.
Crucial to that, young Saudi Jehad Thikri has certainly caught the eye, with the 23-year-old recently making his debut for the national team after a string of impressive performances for his club.
Behind him at Al Qadsiah is Koen Casteels, the Belgian No.1 goalkeeper who has been a rock at the back with more RSL clean sheets than any goalkeeper this season.
Looking up front, and while Aubameyang often hogs the headlines, Mexican Julian Quinones has been even more prolific, with 15 goals and four assists to Aubameyang’s 11 goals and two assists.
Combined, the strike partners create a dangerous attacking duo. For that, they will surely fancy themselves against an Al Raed that has shipped 46 league goals this season.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Al Qadsiah have been thriving since the opening round in August, when they put four past Al Orobah. With nine goals in three matches, they represent the leading scorers in this year’s King’s Cup, a run that also includes wins against Al Wehda (2-1) and Al Taawoun (3-0).
Al Raed are the only team to face second-tier opposition in each round but had to do it the hard way in their quarter-final win against Al Jabalain. There, they were forced all the way to penalties before prevailing 4-3 from the spot.
The opening rounds were more straightforward, with a 2-0 win against Jeddah Club and a 1-0 triumph against Al Najma.
