After a long break, Ittihad FC managed to perform better in the last two matches, and Karim Benzema was played from the early minutes of the match but he didn't score a goal, but lucky for Ittihad FC because Abderrazak Hamdallah could be relied on by scoring two goals which brought Ittihad to win against Al-Riyadh, and Hamdallah has scored three goals in his two club matches after this long break.
Ittihad FC no longer has a chance to catch Al-Hilal so it is certain that they will fail to defend their title, but they still have a chance to get the title in another competition, namely the Asian Champions League, but they will have a tough match because they will face Al Hilal in the quarter-finals, Al Hilal is one of the strong teams this season. Ittihad's struggle to qualify for the semifinals is quite tough.
Al-ittihad has indeed won 2 consecutive victories at the beginning of this second half season. And well that is indeed a good development for this club which had slumped at the end of the first half of the season. But unfortunately Al-ittihad is already far behind in points from al-Nassr and Al-hilal in the SPL. So for Al-ittihad maybe they just have to fight harder in the AFC champions league. And fortunately Al-ittihad has managed to qualify from the round of 16 in the AFC Champion League. But well the real problem does arise in the quarter-finals because Al-ittihad must face the strongest opponent there, AL-hilal. And obviously it will be a difficult match for AL-ittihad. But that doesn't mean Al-ittihad doesn't have a chance. It's just that the chances of beating Al-hilal are quite small.
it seems this depends on whether Al Hilal will also chase the title in the AFC champions league?
the answer is of course that Al Hilal will try to get the title there because this very strong performance will be put to good use to get the title in the SPL and even in the AFC Champions League.
Ittihad has a very slim chance of beating Al Hilal, while we don't need to bother betting on the match between the two teams in the AFC competition because before the AFC Champions League match starts, these two teams will meet to compete for 3 points in the SPL and from these results we We can already predict how Ittihad will look, which will have difficulty beating Al Hilal.
I have never had bad thoughts about Ittihad but for this season it is very impossible for any team to beat Al Hilal unless this team makes a serious mistake in causing 1 defeat but for the time being Al Hilal remains the favorite.
Al Hilal is the most successful team with 4 titles in the AFC Champions League, it will be very possible for Al Hilal to be able to pursue becoming champions in this competition, but it will be much more difficult for them because the AFC Champions League is not the same as the SPL.
But for this season it seems that Al Hilal will try to target winning the AFC Champions League title, they are already at the top of the standings in the SPL with points which are quite safe so they can focus on other competitions.
Al Hilal vs Ittihad will take place at the beginning of March and there are still two SPL matches remaining, however the two will meet first in the SPL match after Al Hilal against Al Ettifaq.
I think Al Hilal will be able to gain an advantage by winning the three matches they will face Ittihad.
You are right because Al Hilal is in very good condition. Initially I thought Al Nassr would be a strong competitor but they also couldn't beat Al Hilal.