After spending an estimated £750m in transfers, what has happened over the last season in the Saudi Arabia Pro League?
A roller-coaster first season in the Saudi Pro League for Steven Gerrard ended on Monday. After a good start, a worrying run of just one win in 12 resulted in concerns for the Liverpool legend's job before his Ettifaq side rallied to finish sixth.
His 35 goals, which came in just 31 games, took him past the record set by Abderrazak Hamdallah in 2019. It was a memorable season for the former Manchester United forward with four hat-tricks as well as 12 assists.Ronaldo’s goals were not enough to give Al-Nassr a tenth title as the Yellows finished the season second, 14 points behind Al-Hilal who swept to the title on the back of an impressive 34-game winning streak in all competitions.
“This season has been truly exceptional for the team – arguably our best ever.” said the Portuguese boss. “The credit goes to the immense talent within the squad and the incredible sense of unity that transcends both on and off-field interactions.”Al-Nassr had star power of their own, and not just Ronaldo. Sadio Mane was signed from Bayern Munich, Marcelo Brozovic arrived from Inter Milan and Aymeric Laporte was recruited from Manchester City to shore up the defence.
Al-Ahli finished third, 17 points behind Al-Nassr, to take the final Asian Champions League spot. Ex-Manchester City forward Riyad Mahrez and Allen Saint-Maximin impressed - recording 13 and nine assists respectively. Former Real Madrid striker Benzema had his moments but struggled with injuries, while Fabinho and Kante could not prevent a defence that was breached just 13 times last season, conceding 50 goals. Nuno was fired in November.Attendances were not as high as officials hoped with an average of just over 8,000. Only the 'Big Four' reached five figures with Al-Ittihad’s on-field problems seeing them slip from over 40,000 last season to less than half this time.
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