If Monday’s dominant football headline offered a stark reminder of the turbo-titanic change sweeping Saudi Arabia, then the duel being duked out on the kingdom’s foremost eastern point that night underlined it.
Granted, this wasn’t Neymar debuting for Al Hilal, as seems certain to come in the not-too-distant future. Brazil’s joint-record goalscorer is expected to be signed in time, though, for Saturday’s home tie against Al Fayha.
Subsequently, the record Saudi champions had to make do – bless – with trotting out a team containing Ruben Neves and Malcom in their 2023/24 Saudi Pro League opener at Abha.
They didn’t even need Kalidou Koulibaly (injured) or Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (rested) in the 3-1 win. Over in Buraidah, the largest city of Al Qassim region in north-central Saudi, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Fabinho were starring for Al Ittihad.