Benzema scores as Al-Ittihad overwhelm Al-Riyadh to maintain SPL top spot

Al-Ittihad maintained their position at the top of the Saudi Pro League after defeating Al-Riyadh 4-0 on Thursday night at Prince Faisal bin Fahad Stadium. The reigning champions have collected a maximum nine points from their opening three matches of the season.

Al-Ittihad’s goals came from Karim Benzema, a double from Abderrazak Hamdallah in the first half, and a stoppage time strike from Saleh Al-Jammaan.

KB9’s goalpic.twitter.com/lwLJU03oLp

— Ittihad Club (@ittihad_en) August 24, 2023

Newly promoted Al-Ahli also maintained their perfect start to the season by beating Al-Okhdood 1-0 to stay in second place on goal difference.

Meanwhile Al-Ettifaq, the only other club to go into matchday three with a 100 percent record, could only manage a 1-1 draw with Khaleej and dropped to fourth behind Al-Hilal, who returned to winning ways with a 4-0 win at Al-Raed.

Goals from new signings Aleksandar Mitrovic, Salem Al-Dawsari with two, and Abdullah Al-Hamdan, secured victory in a match which saw red cards for Al-Hilal’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Al-Raed’s Oumar Gonzalez.

In the day’s other match, Al-Wehda defeated Al-Tai 3-0 to go into fifth place in the SPL table.