Overview
Al Nassr has not gone through a very successful pre-season. In 7 friendly matches in the summer of 2024, they only won 1 win, drew 2 matches and lost 4 matches.
However, as soon as Cristiano Ronaldo returned and played the first official match of the new season in the semi-finals of the Saudi Super Cup, Al Nassr won 2-0 against Al Taawoun.
The Portuguese striker's timely brilliance will bring high confidence to his teammates before the final. Besides, other stars like Laporte, Mane, Otavio, Talisca or Bento also need to show their class. However, Al Nassr will not have the services of Brozovic in the match against Al Hilal due to receiving a red card in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Al Hilal just won against Al Ahli on penalties in the semi-finals. Their performance in the summer friendly match series is also quite impressive with 3 wins after 4 matches. If only counting official matches, coach Jorge Jesus' team is also unbeaten in 11 consecutive matches (8 wins, 3 draws).
In terms of head-to-head performance, Al Hilal has often had good results against Al Nassr recently. Last season, Al Hilal won 1 and drew 1 in two matches against Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. More noteworthy, they won the tournament with a gap of 12 points over their opponents.
Jorge Jesus' team also defeated Al Nassr in the King Cup final last May. Therefore, although morale is high, it is very difficult for Al Nassr to reclaim the debt before Al Hilal.
Expected lineup:
Al Nassr : Abdullah, Boushal, Al-Amri, Laporte, Telles, Al-Khaibari, Brozovic, Talisca, Mane, Otavio, Ronaldo.
Al Hilal : Bounou, Abdulhamid, Koulibaly, Al Bulaihi, Al Shahrani, Neves, Kanno, Michael, Milinkovic-Savic, Malcom, Mitrovic.
The match between Al Nassr - Al Hilal takes place at 11:15 p.m. on August 17 (Vietnam time).
