Al-Ettifaq turned their deficit against their guest and neighbor Al-Qadisiyah into an exciting 3-2 victory in the "Eastern Derby" that brought them together at the Etoile du Sahel Stadium in Al-Ettifaq Club - as part of the 27th round of the Saudi Professional League.
The match saw a strong start from Al-Qadisiyah, who were seeking three points to continue their pursuit of the league title. They took the lead through their top scorer, Julian Kinionis (33'). However, just two minutes later, his teammate, Mohammed Abu Shamat, received a straight red card for a foul on Al-Ettifaq's Ondrej Duda (35'). Al-Ettifaq capitalized on their numerical advantage, equalizing before halftime through defender Jack Hendry (40'). In the second half, Moussa Dembélé doubled Al-Ettifaq's lead (47'), and Georginio Wijnaldum added a third from the penalty spot (74'). Julian Kinionis pulled one back for Al-Qadisiyah (88'), scoring his second goal of the match. In stoppage time, Al-Qadisiyah captain Nacho Fernandez scored what appeared to be a dramatic equalizer, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review by Greek referee Anastasios. Al-Qadisiyah's Gaston Alvarez was also shown a red card, and the match ended 1-1. Al-Ettifaq won by three goals to two.
With this result, Al-Ettifaq achieves its 12th victory and reaches 42 points in seventh place, while Al-Qadisiyah suffers its third loss and its tally remains frozen at 60 points in fourth place.
