Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard ended a run of nine matches in the Saudi Pro League and King’s Cup with a comeback win over rival Al-Khaleej.
Former Reds midfielder Gini Wijnaldum netted just his second goal of the campaign before Abdullah Radif completed the turnaround with seven minutes remaining.
Despite the barren domestic run, which included a shock defeat in the King’s Cup to lower league opposition, Ettifaq have been impervious in the Gulf Champions League, with Gerrard’s side winning each of their opening four matches in the competition.
Their recent triumph came in an emphatic 5-0 win over Al-Arabi to book their place in the semi-final of the competition.
But they have struggled in the Pro League, and their 3-1 defeat to Al-Jabalain at the end of October compounded the misery, which resulted in the departure of sporting director Mark Allen and assistant manager Dean Holden – leading to the reunion with former Liverpool youth team coach Michael Beale.
Khaled Narey opened the scoring on Saturday after 35 minutes, and on the stroke of half-time, Ettifaq’s Dammam rivals thought they had a second through Kostas Fortounis, but his effort was ruled out by VAR.
However, moments later, in the sixth minute of added time in the first-half, Wijnaldum lost his marker to head home the equaliser.Gerrard’s side found the breakthrough in the dying embers through an acrobatic effort from Radif.
Speaking after the win, the 44-year-old said: “I really enjoyed the match; it was intense. Al-Khaleej played a good game and it was a tough challenge.”However, the most important thing was that after conceding the early goal, we fought back and showed sacrifice.
The desire was there, and we demonstrated a strong character to come back and win the game.”The second goal was world-class. Everyone played a role in the game, we were eager to improve our league performance..
Winning a derby match was a crucial opportunity to get back on the winning track in the league.It is important not to dwell too much on today’s result. There is still a lot of work to do, both defensively and offensively. We will continue to work with the players to develop and improve our league performance.
