Trezeguet's Omission Angers Al-Riyadh Fans Ahead of Al-Ahli Clash

Trezeguet omission sparks Al-Riyadh fan anger before Al-Ahli clash

Al-Riyadh walked into Jeddah on Friday needing calm heads and clear plans for their Roshn League trip to Al-Ahli. Instead, they arrived with a storm swirling around their biggest name.

When the club’s official account on X posted the starting XI and substitutes for the fifth-round clash at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium, one name was missing. No Mahmoud Hassan “Trezeguet”. No explanation. Just silence.

The reaction was instant.

Al-Riyadh fans flooded the comments, demanding answers. Many had expected the Egyptian winger to be central to any hope of troubling Al-Ahli. His absence, dropped without context on a simple team graphic, felt like a jolt.

Confusion only deepened because, less than 24 hours earlier, everything had looked normal. On Thursday, the club had shared photos from the final training session before the match. Trezeguet appeared in the images, taking part in the drills, looking ready. There was no hint of a problem.

So when his name vanished from the squad list, supporters feared the worst and suspected the club was hiding something. The lack of clarity became the story.

The answer finally came from the stadium itself. Reporting from Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium, the correspondent for “Thmanyah”, the Saudi league’s broadcaster, confirmed that Trezeguet had been ruled out through injury.

No dramatic fallout. No disciplinary issue. Just an injury, but one significant enough to remove Al-Riyadh’s marquee summer signing from one of their toughest fixtures of the campaign.

Trezeguet only joined Al-Riyadh in the current transfer window, arriving from Egypt’s Al-Ahly after a single season there. His name alone had raised expectations around the club. Now, only a few games into his Saudi adventure, Al-Riyadh are already learning what it means to be without him on a big night.