Al Ettifaq fight back to beat Al Nassr as star-studded Saudi Pro League gets under way

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. Ex-Celtic winger Jota looked on from the bench. He would’ve liked what he saw: the champions got their defence under way with a routine 3-0 victory at Al Raed.

The night’s marquee fixture, however, was taking place in Dammam, where Al Ettifaq hosted Riyadh giants Al Nassr. Even without Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo Brozovic, Alex Telles and Seko Fofana, all given a breather following the team’s just-concluded King Salman Club Cup success, there was still Sadio Mane, the reigning African player of the Year.

Acquired last month from Bayern Munich, the Senegalese international captained the side in Ronaldo’s absence.

And, anyway, he did cross paths with a few familiar faces at the Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium. Sporting the Ettifaq armband was Jordan Henderson, Mane’s colleague and captain through the recent glory years at Liverpool.

Henderson was convinced, in part, to come to