Al Ahli Saudi Secure Hard-Fought Opening Win Under Marino Pusic in Saudi Pro League

Al Ahli Saudi began the post-Matthias Jaissle era with a hard-fought victory over Diriyah to get their Saudi Pro League campaign up and running. Jaissle left this summer after guiding the Jeddah giants to back-to-back AFC Champions League titles, taking over the reins at Newcastle United. His replacement, Marino Pusic, will have been forgiven for thinking Ahli had been given a favourable first fixture against Diriyah, but the promoted club were by far the better team in the first half and were undone by a sucker punch just before the break.

Big-money signing Francisco Trincao was brought in to replace veteran Algerian forward Riyad Mahrez, who was released over the summer after three productive years at Ahli. The Portuguese winger did well to keep hold of the ball under pressure from several Diriyah players in the middle of the pitch, and he released Valentin Antanga down the left; Antanga drove into the box but was dispossessed by a defender. The loose ball fell invitingly into the path of another new signing, Eduard Spertsyan, and he smashed home to settle the tie in Ahli's favour. The Armenian, a €22 million signing from Russia's Krasnodar, celebrated his debut goal wildly in front of the travelling support.

Last season's Golden Boot winner Julian Quinones was among the goals as Al Qadsiah came from behind to record a 3-1 win over Al Shabab. Quinones finished the previous campaign with 33 league goals, ahead of Ivan Toney and Cristiano Ronaldo and also enjoyed a productive World Cup, scoring three goals for co-hosts Mexico. Shabab took an early lead through Hammam Al Hammami's excellent turn and finish but were pegged back by Mohammed Abu Al Shamat's equaliser on 35 minutes. Quinones gave Shabab the lead on 80 minutes, applying the finishing touch to Mohamed Al Qahtani's cross. Substitute Turki Al Ammar sealed the three points with Qadsiah's third in injury time. Brendan Rodgers' side finished fourth last season and will look to challenge again. Al Hazem ran out 2-1 winners over promoted Abha, with Abdulaziz Al Duwaihi and Ahmed Al Shamrani on target.