Al-Faisaly will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Nassr were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.97 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nawaf Bu Washl is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Al-Nassr and a proper look at me.” He remains Al-Fateh’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
Position 3, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A brace, and Jhon Durán takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jhon Durán provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Al-Nassr will not try tonight.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhon Durán wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Jhon Durán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nassr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Position 2, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Nassr heard it as anything else.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nassr know it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Feras Al-Brikan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Nassr and Al-Mojzel in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Taiwo Olonisakin has just signed for Al-Nassr, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Wesley has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Add another name to the list: Saipa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ali Al-Hassan. The answer from Al-Nassr has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Abdulelah Al-Amri has come up in conversations Al-Nassr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
A brace, and Jhon Durán takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jhon Durán provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from USM Alger for Mohammed Al-Mahasnah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yousef Al-Tahan is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Nassr
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Wesley has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from ASO Chlef for Abdulelah Al-Amri was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
247 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Farhah Al-Shamrani is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhon Durán wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Giaco Garombo has just signed for Al-Nassr, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The name of Hayder Abdulkareem has come up in conversations Al-Nassr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
Boardroom140% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nassr
The offer from Rah Ahan for Abdulelah Al-Amri was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Salem Al-Najdi has come up in conversations Al-Nassr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Santiago Mera has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Nassr, another week without a signature from Ali Al-Hassan.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Nassr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Abdulaziz Al-Bishi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Nassr.
Squad26 Jun 2028
6 new faces, and Al-Nassr are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Haras El Hodoud for Mohammed Al-Mahasnah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al-Khaibari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nassr know it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Shoulla will make the call about Hayder Abdulkareem this week. Al-Nassr have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The offer from MC Alger for Haroune Camara was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
An order from above at Al-Nassr: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Thiago Tarabay has just signed for Al-Nassr, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
14 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 4 appearances in 46 say he has earned the hearing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al-Nassr would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Najran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
SquadHaman Mandjan has become a man the manager trusts
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Nassr heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Nassr heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhon Durán wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Nassr are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Al-Nassr may not be able to give Samú what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samú wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 4 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
10 goals in 23 games at Zob Ahan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Nassr updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Mohamed Simakan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santino Vera is living that version at Al-Nassr, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
16 combined actions and 6.98. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Nassr will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Everyone has stopped pretending: MC Alger will make the call about Abdullah Al-Hamddan this week. Al-Nassr have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jhon Durán. 2‑0 against Al-Ahli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Al-Shabab, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
A brace, and Aiman Yahya takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aiman Yahya provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Add another name to the list: MC Alger have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdullah Al-Hamddan. The answer from Al-Nassr has not changed — yet.
The offer from Ermis for Mohammed Al-Mahasnah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Bento: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Maher Tawashi has agreed terms with Al-Orobah for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Nassr will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Al-Diriyah will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Nassr were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Al-Hilal for Abdulelah Al-Amri was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market10 Jan 2028
Al-Nassr may not be able to give Samú what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samú wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The terracesAl-Nassr supporters have found a favourite in Wesley
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Aiman Yahya was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The terracesAl-Nassr supporters have found a favourite in Ângelo
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Nassr will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jhon Durán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Haroune Camara’s exile
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Najran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Nassr will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Nassr heard it as anything else.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Nassr will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Nassr heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 2 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jhon Durán. 1‑0 against Al-Ra'ed, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ângelo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.20 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samú is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The goal that put Al-Fateh ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Al-Nassr equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Najran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al-Ahli? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Mohammed Marran’s exile
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 3 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Al-Shabab defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ângelo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Nassr know it.
7 goals in 8 games at Zob Ahan — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Nassr updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Al-Diriyah defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Al-Khaleej will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Nassr were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nassr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhon Durán wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Al-Nassr will not try tonight.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nassr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nassr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
An order from above at Al-Nassr: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hayder Abdulkareem is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Najran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market30 Aug 2027
Al-Nassr may not be able to give Samú what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samú wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Nassr are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhon Durán has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
0‑2 to Al-Qadisiyah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ali Al-Hassan has improved at 30, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Nassr will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad23 Aug 2027
11 new faces, and Al-Nassr are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Nassr
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hayder Abdulkareem is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhon Durán wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Add another name to the list: Al Gaish have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdulelah Al-Amri. The answer from Al-Nassr has not changed — yet.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nassr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Jhon Durán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kingsley Coman is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Ahmed Al-Ghamdi ended with $2.6M changing hands and Al-Ittihad out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Jhon Durán falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Feras Al-Brikan is a Al-Nassr player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 19, he is averaging 6.55, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The phone has started ringing about Kingsley Coman again, and this time the name on the line is Rosario Central. Al-Nassr are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Kingsley Coman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Kingsley Coman talk too
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
The name of João Félix has come up in conversations Al-Nassr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Al-Nassr would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Kingsley Coman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
24 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
2 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nassr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
João Félix was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Nassr and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 38 matches say the rest.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Nassr will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Match12 May 2027
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Al-Nassr. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Sadio Mané was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samú is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
65 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market26 Apr 2027
Al-Nassr may not be able to give Samú what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samú wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al-Khaibari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Khuzestan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samú is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 2 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kingsley Coman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadSadio Mané has become a man the manager trusts
João Félix was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al-Khaibari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Position 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Al-Nassr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Khuzestan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Sadio Mané was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Nassr, and 2 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Nassr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kingsley Coman provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samú is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kingsley Coman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Feb 2027
Al-Nassr may not be able to give Samú what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samú wants continental football; whether Al-Nassr can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al-Khaibari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Félix signs something — a contract at Al-Nassr or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Al-Nassr will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Ahli moved on, Nawaf Al-Aqidi reports back to Al-Nassr, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Brozović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Rah Ahan will make the call about Abdulelah Al-Amri this week. Al-Nassr have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Nassr and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and João Félix reports back to Al-Nassr with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.69 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match6 Feb 2027
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Al-Nassr. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about João Félix again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Hilal. Al-Nassr are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Toulouse FC for Sadio Mané was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.67 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.58 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Nassr can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Manchester United for João Félix was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 2, 50 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kingsley Coman provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Nassr will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
João Félix was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Kingsley Coman decided otherwise. Al-Faisaly had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Marcelo Brozović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kingsley Coman. 3‑2 against Al-Faisaly, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nassr, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Nassr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
João Félix was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.