Electronic flag – Rabat
The King Salman Cup for the Champions Clubs held in Saudi Arabia will miss one of the names nominated for the title, as Wydad Athletic Club and Al Hilal Saudi Arabia are going through a decisive summit, the demise of today, Wednesday, at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City stadium in Al-Mahalla in the city of Abha, within the second group that may allow one of them, in the best case, to qualify. To the quarter-finals, awaiting the outcome of the Qatari Al-Sadd match and Al-Ahly, Tripoli, Libya.
Al-Sadd leads the group standings with four points, followed by Al-Ahly Tripoli second, with two points, with a goal difference against Wydad, while Al-Hilal is in last place with an orphan point, and therefore the possibilities are open.
The red team will regain its international captain, Yahya Gibran, to be an important pillar in the team’s midfield, along with Algerian Zakaria Darawi.
Gibran was sent off in the first match against Al Sadd, which sparked the Moroccan club’s objection against arbitration. The player Hisham Bosufian will be absent from the team due to his expulsion in the previous match against Al-Ahly Tripoli.
Wydad is also missing the decisive striker, and this matter was indicated by the coach of the team, Adel Ramzi, who seemed optimistic about qualification, saying, “We will qualify against Al-Hilal, despite the strength of the Saudi team.”
The two teams had previously faced each other in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup, and Al Hilal won on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie.
On the other hand, the Saudi “leader” seeks to reconcile his fans when he faces Wydad, especially since the team has a star-studded squad, most notably Senegalese defender Kalido Coulibaly, Portuguese Robin Neves and Serbian Sergey Milinkovic-Savic, as well as Peruvian striker Andre Carrillo.
Despite these deals, the team, led by Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, is suffering from a results crisis.
“We are still in the preparation stage, and we will be better against Wydad,” Jesus said, after his team lost 2-3 to Al-Sadd, adding, “We have a chance to qualify. The Wydad match is crucial for us.”
He explained, “The team will be strengthened by two foreign elements who will add a lot to us, and I aspire to complete the elements and their complete harmony with the team because we are still in the preparation stage, so many mistakes are normal at this stage.”
In the first group, the Saudi Federation, which previously qualified for the quarter-finals, is looking for a third victory or a tie when it meets its runner-up, the Iraqi police (4 points), at King Fahd Sports City Stadium in Taif.
Al-Ittihad presented good levels in its previous two matches and succeeded in achieving victory over Esperance 2-1 and Sfaxien 1-0, in light of the brilliance of its veteran French striker Karim Benzema, the best player in the world for 2022.
Al-Ittihad lacks the services of the Egyptian axis player, Tariq Hamed, who suffered a severe facial injury, but he has distinguished names led by Benzema and his compatriot, the defensive midfielder N’Golo Kante, in the event that he overcomes the injury that he missed in the last match, along with the Brazilian trio Marcelo Grohe, Igor Coronado, Romarinho and Moroccan Abdul Razzaq Hamdallah. .
As for the police, he also appeared at good levels and recorded positive results, and is close to reaching the second round if he guarantees a tie, and he may qualify even if he loses, according to the result of Esperance (1) and Sfaxien (0), who mathematically lost hope of qualifying.
The administrative director of the police team, Hashem Reda, said, “In the previous two matches, the players performed well and showed clear commitment to the instructions of the technical staff.
In the face of Al-Ittihad, Al-Shorta is missing the most prominent elements of its Brazilian midfield, Lucas Santos, in addition to the injury of Abdul Majeed Abu Bakr, which threatens his participation.