Meknes – Youssef En-Nesyri has blamed the referee after Al-Ittihad drew 1–1 with Al-Kholood in their first league match of the season on Saturday.
The Moroccan forward opened the scoring for Al-Ittihad at Jeddah’s Alinma Stadium. After the match, he pointed to errors from both the referee and his own team as the main reasons they missed out on the win.
“Praise be to God for everything. We drew 1-1, but there were mistakes, both from our side and from the referees’ side,” En-Nesyri told reporters after the game.
Al-Ittihad played the final half-hour with ten men after Portuguese defender Danilo Pereira was sent off in the 58th minute. The referee initially let play go on, but dismissed Pereira with a direct red card following a VAR review for an off-the-ball kick at an Al-Kholood player.
En-Nesyri disagreed with the sending-off, insisting that the tackle did not deserve a card, but praised his teammates’ effort on the pitch.
“There was no red card, there was no contact, but I am happy with the players and what they gave. I hope what comes next will be better, and we will give everything we have to win and make the fans happy,” he argued.
Although the draw cost Al-Ittihad a victory in their season opener, En-Nesyri’s goal ensured the club extended its impressive streak of scoring in consecutive matches.
The Moroccan striker continued a club trend by becoming the fourth consecutive foreign signing to score Al-Ittihad’s first league goal of the season, though he couldn’t break the deadline late on to secure the victory.
With just one point from their opening home match, Al-Ittihad now turn their attention to the next game after missing out on a win in front of their home supporters.
