Overseas players took center stage in the ninth round of the 2021-22 Saudi Professional League season, with the eight fixtures producing 22 goals at rate of 2.75 goals per match.
Foreign players at the 16 top-flight Saudi clubs continued to shine, scoring 18 of the 22 goals, with doubles notched by Syrian striker Omar Al-Soma in Al-Ahli’s 2-1 win away to Al-Tai; the Nigerian Odion Ighalo in Al-Shabab’s 2-0 victory over Al-Ittihad; and Argentine Luciano Vietto for Al-Hilal in the 3-2 win over Al-Raed, in which the winning goal came from Frenchman Bafetimbi Gomis.
Romain Amalfitano, Al-Faisaly’s French midfielder, scored a late equalizer against Al-Taawoun to secure a 2-2 draw for his team, while Emilio Zelaya of Argentina grabbed the only goal goal of the match for Damac against Al-Hazem to take his is team to the top of the SPL standings with 18 points.
Meanwhile, Al-Ettifaq’s Slovakian midfielder Filip Kiss converted a penalty in the 1-0 win against Al-Nassr at the end of the round, which also witnessed goals by Guilherme Augusto (Al-Faisaly), Saad Bguir (Abha), Mitchell te Vrede (Abha), Cedric Amissi (Al-Taawoun), Christian Cueva (Al-Fateh), Eder Lopes (Al-Raed), Lucas Alves (Al-Tai) and Renato Chavez (Al-Batin).
The Saudi quartet of Fahad Al-Jumayah (Abha), Yousef Al-Shammari (Al-Batin), Yahya Al-Shehri (Al-Raed) and Sumayhan Al-Nabit (Al-Taawoun) completed the scoring with a goal each.
