Whistle Under Pressure: Horatiu Visnic’s Roshen Debut in Al Hilal vs Al Fateh

The Saudi Football Federation has announced the officiating crew for the much-anticipated Al Hilal vs Al Fateh clash in the Roshen Pro League.

Al Hilal hosts Al Fateh this Saturday at Kingdom Arena, in the ninth round of the Saudi Pro League.

The federation, via its official X account, named Romanian referee Horatiu Visnic to helm the match.

The trio Aleksandar Siri and Marius Badia will serve as the assistant referees, with Sami Al-Jreis as the fourth official.

The crew also includes another Romanian, Ovidiu Hatigan, as the video referee, with Radu Gingoljak assisting VAR.

First Roshen appearance

This will be the first time Visnic has officiated in the Saudi Pro League, not just this season but ever.

Apart from the Romanian league, Visnic has not officiated in other domestic leagues, except for one game in Croatia.

He is relatively young for a referee, 36 years old, started in the Romanian top flight in 2012, and has held international status since 2015.

Weak European exposure

On the continental stage, Visnic has appeared in only one Champions League match last season, and three in the qualifying rounds.

His European appearances peaked in the Europa League, where he officiated eight matches, plus six in the qualifying rounds, with five in the Conference League and six in the qualifiers.

At the national team level, he has not officiated World Cup or European Championship matches, but he has refereed three World Cup qualifiers, and three Euro qualifiers, and three friendlies.

His most frequent appearances have been in youth European Championships such as Under-17 and Under-21, and in the qualifying rounds for those tournaments.

Gomes faces Al Hilal again

The Portuguese Jose Gomes, head coach of Al Fateh, aims to make Al Hilal the most familiar opponent in his career, reaching 13 meetings with the Riyadh giants.

Gomes has faced the Blue Wave 12 times before, winning only twice; the first came when he led Al-Taawoun to a 1-0 win, the second in a title-winning moment when he guided Al Ahli to win the Saudi Super Cup on penalties over Al Hilal.

Yet if Hilal is a gateway to one of three trophies in his career, his personal record against Hilal contains many blemishes.

He has suffered 10 losses against a single team, equal to what he has against Al Nasr.

If he loses again on Saturday, that record would become 11 losses.

Also, if Hilal wins, Gomes would see another negative stat: the blue team's seven-match winless run against Hilal.

The third negative stat is the goals conceded by Gomes's teams against Hilal: 38, the worst defensive record for him against a single club.

Against Hilal, Gomes has guided sides to score 20 goals against but conceded 38; against Al Nasr in 13 meetings, 16 scored and 29 conceded, including a five-goal thrashing in round five this season.

Ongoing struggle

If Gomes has managed a "miracle" keeping Al Fateh near safety after being tipped for relegation, the team still finds itself in the same spiral this season, though indicators differ.

After eight rounds, Fateh sit on the edge of relegation with five points, fifteenth in the table, a point behind Al Akhdoud and Damac who are trying to crawl out of danger, while the bottom-placed Najm remains point-less for now.

Fateh's hopes always ride with Gomes relying on Matias Vargas, the Argentine forward, Morad Batna, the Moroccan, Sufian Ben Debka, the Algerian, and what each can bring to the table; beyond that, things look tough against the giants.

And Fateh has already faced shocks this season, including a 5-2 loss to Al Taawoun before the international break.

Despite the improvement of Al Taawoun, Gomes's defensive system persists in the same struggles from last season, perhaps even more so.

Whether facing big or small opponents, Gomes tends to be the initiator; he wants his team to have an identifiable footballing personality that earns his players confidence against the giants without fear.

If the Al Hilal game looks daunting, Fateh also faces a repeat tie against the same opponent in the King Cup quarterfinals, with Gomes hoping for a shock.

Punchline 1: If Visnic keeps a clean sheet, he deserves a medal; if not, at least the whistle can claim a victory lap.

Punchline 2: In football, it’s 11 players versus 11... plus the whistle; somehow the whistle always has the last word.