JEDDAH: Redemption was sweet for Al-Ittihad. A year after narrowly missing the league title Ittihad made sure of taking the cup to Jeddah as the first champion of the Saudi Professional League as it beat Al-Hilal 2-1 in the final match of round 22 that brought the football season to a close at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh last night.

The place was Jeddah last year, same day, Sunday, when Hilal and Ittihad met in the final match of the then Saudi Super League at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium in Jeddah. Hilal won the league crown with a 1-0 victory. At that time, Ittihad had two options — win or draw — to clinch the title. Hilal needed to win and did just that to deny Ittihad the title by the quirks of rules. Though ahead then on points — 48 to Hilal’s 45 — Hilal was awarded the trophy when it tied Ittihad at the end of the match after it won using the result of their head-to-head matches. The match in Riyadh ended 0-0.

For Ittihad this was the chance that it will not miss. Ittihad had only briefly surrendered the lead to Hilal and was leading from the very first round of the league in a run that ended with a historic title.

History repeated itself this time in Riyadh. Ittihad was again playing with two chances, to win or draw, at any result and Hilal’s only chance was to win. This time though Ittihad turned the tables on Hilal, scoring a well-deserved victory in front of a packed crowd of 60,000, most of them Hilal fans.

Hilal was hoping to complete a league and Crown Prince Cup double. But Ittihad had other ideas.

Both teams were cautious at the beginning of the match — Hilal searching for an early goal to control the match and Ittihad closing their back lines to make sure that Hilal would not score early.

Both sides were careful with attacks and counterattacks testing each other’s lines.

Naif Hazzazi silenced the Hilal fans when he scored on a fine header from a beautiful cross from Busharwan in the 18th minute. Al-Hazzazi rose up to meet Busharwan’s cross after eluding a phalanx of defenders and Hilal’s goalie could not do anything to stop the ball from going to the back of the net.

Hilal’s mission became all the more difficult in the 22nd minute when Khaled Aziz was red carded for kicking Al-Hazzazi. This created perfect opportunity for Ittihad players to launch attacks and take control of the midfield. Busharwan nearly scored the second goal in the 32nd minute from a strong shot that went on the right hand side of the goalkeeper.

Hilal coach introduced Al-Fareedi to activate the striking line. This did not stop Busharwan and Al-Hazzazi to try their chances against Al-Duaie. Ittihad nearly scored a goal in the 46th minute of the second half when Al-Hazzazi’s header hit the right post.

Luck finally smiled at Hilal when Yaser Al-Qahtani was awarded a penalty kick for a tackle inside the penalty box. Meriél Radoi placed the ball in the left hand side of the goalkeeper. The match was on again. Hilal pushed forward hard in search of the winner and Ittihad drew back temporarily and relied on fast counterattacks.

While many thought there was a goal in waiting for Hilal, Busharwan had the final say. In the 66th minute Busharwan took the ball inside the penalty box passing by one defender in a fine solo act and blasted a shot to the left of the goalkeeper.

That took the fight out Hilal, which was one man down and needed two goals to win with time running out. The coach had already introduced three strikers in an effort to level the game at least but all the efforts were met by a well organized defense line from Ittihad side. Ittihad topped the league standings with 55 points and Hilal second with 50 points.

Star striker Al- Hazzazi said after the match, “It is impossible to top the league throughout the rounds and lose the last match. I knew before the match that the title was for Ittihad. We promised our fans the title and to added for the first time. I thank all the players who contributed to this win, especially Muhammad Nur who was guiding me throughout the year and making sure hat I will show my best performance.”

In the other matches, Nasr defeated Najran 1-0, Ahli defeated Al-Hazem 1-0, Al-Ittifaq tied with Al-Raid 1-1, Wehda defeated Al-Watani 4-0 and Abha defeated Shabab 2-1.