The Moroccan Abdelrazak Hamdallah, striker of the al-itthad of Jeddah , revealed that Al-Hilal’s first-round match of the Saudi Professional League was causing the Dean’s season to be ruined, citing the reason he refused to leave the team.
Hamdallah was asked why the lackluster Etihad season, to reply: “I have no explanation for what is happening to the team, we were joined by big players like Kante, Fabinho, Benzema and Louise, and old players like Hijazi, Romarinho, Cornado and me.”
Hamdallah, in a dialogue on YouTube media channel Khaled Yassin, added on Friday, “So the team was supposed to be in a better position than that, because this combination deserves to be crowned with titles”
The 5 al-itthad lost this season’s championships, the Arab Club Championship, the Saudi League, the Super Cup, the Club World Cup and the AFC Champions League.
The Moroccan striker continued: “We started the season well, but since the al-hilal game in which we led 3-1, and then we lost, we were beaten 3-4. Things turned around, everything changed, the crowd no longer trusted the players, we didn’t get over this loss, and then we got into a spiral of results, and then we had injuries.”
The al-itthad led Al-Hilal 3-1 in the first half of the Clasico game in the fifth round of the competition, last September, but the leader turned the score in his favour in the second half (4-3).
This is one of the 6 games the al-itthad has lost at the hands of al-hilal this season in all tournaments.
Hamdallah continued: “The press talked about the al-itthad very poorly, and began to question the harmony between the existing combination, so after any faltering talk about negatives renewed.”
He continued: “The crowd started listening to what the press said and was influenced by it, which prompted her to be absent from the stands, and when she walks into the stadium and doesn’t find the audience it feels bad.”
Refusal to leave
In a different context, Hamdallah said: “Nuno Santo (former coach) was heavily criticized in the Taif camp this summer, even though he was last season’s defending champion.”
He continued: “The players have also been under tremendous pressure, but the coach situation is different, where the coach can be changed between one day and one night, so Santo is gone.”
He continued: “I regret Marcelo Giardo because he came in a position that does not help any coach, yet we are optimistic, we have the chance to be crowned Cup title, compete for third place and this is our goal this season.”
He added: “Some old professionals demanded to leave, but there was a desire from the club and the players to stay, I did not pay attention to these demands and refused to leave, because I saw that the club was the most important thing, and if the club asked me to leave, I left.”
