Third Clasico Showdown: Can Al-Nassr Extend Domination Over Al-Ittihad?

The Third Clasico of the Season: A Test of Momentum

Saudi football fans are gearing up for the third Clasico of the season as Al-Nassr welcome Al-Ittihad to Riyadh, coming just over 70 days into the new campaign. The King Salman Cup Round of 16 sets the stage for a clash that has already dominated headlines this term.

The match, set for Tuesday at Al-Nassr Park, adds another chapter to a lengthy rivalry that has already produced dramatic moments in two major meetings this season.

Seasonal Encounters: What Happened Before

So far, the teams have met twice in quick succession: in the Saudi Super Cup in Hong Kong and in the Roshen Saudi Pro League. In the Super Cup semi-final in Hong Kong, Al-Nassr clinched a 2-1 victory. Sadio Mané opened the scoring for Nassr, Steven Bergwijn equalized for Al-Ittihad, and even though Mané was sent off, Nassr secured the win with a late effort from Kingsley Coman. That win propelled Nassr toward the final, where they faced Al-Ahli, who had defeated Al-Qadisiyah in the other semi-final.

The final, however, ended in a 2-2 draw and a penalty shootout, where Al-Ahli prevailed 5-3 to lift the King Salman Cup for the second time in their history after a nine-year gap.

League Round Two: A Nasr Victory and the Title Race

Less than six weeks later, the two clubs clashed again in the league at the Al-Enmaa Stadium in Jeddah, and Nassr emerged with a 2-0 win, courtesy of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mané. That triumph kept Nassr at the summit with 18 points from six games, three clear of Al-Taawoun, while Al-Ittihad faced a tougher run and failed to harvest a domestic win in several rounds, drawing with Al-Fayha and then losing 0-2 to their arch-rivals Al-Hilal.

These results set the stage for a high-stakes clash in Riyadh, with both teams keen to establish control over the early title race while also defending bragging rights that stretch back across multiple campaigns.

Scenario and History Collide — If Al-Ittihad lose, this could become only the second time in the professional era that Al-Nassr beat Al-Ittihad three times in one season across three different competitions. The first such occurrence came in the 2015-2016 season, a year when three Nassr victories over their rivals occurred across league and cup play, with the campaign finishing that year in a dramatic fashion despite Nassr ending eighth with 28 points overall.

Over the broader arc of the rivalry, Nassr enjoyed an eight-match winning streak against Al-Ittihad from 2013-2014 through the first half of 2016-2017, tallying 23 goals to Al-Ittihad’s four in those clashes. The stretch included a 5-0 league thrashing and a sequence that underscored Nassr’s dominance in derbies during that era.

Today’s matchup carries the weight of history and the promise of fresh precedent. If Nassr can extend their multi-competition success against Al-Ittihad, it would cement a remarkable narrative for the current team and set a stern challenge for the rest of the season.

Humor break: If football were a library, this Clasico would be the section labeled “ sequels with higher budgets.” Punchline ready: if the match ends in a draw, both sides can claim they achieved balance—on the pitch, not on their accounts. And if someone asks the referee to “let them swap jerseys,” tell them it’s because the players are busy swapping the scoreboards’ opinions. Last line: may the fun be loud and the goals even louder.