Al-Ahli Faces Crucial Test Against Al-Nassr Amid Injury Crisis
Al-Ahli’s season reaches an early crossroads on 20 November, under the floodlights of Al-Inma Stadium and under the weight of a growing injury crisis.
The postponed ninth-round clash with Al-Nassr was already circled on the calendar as a statement game. Now it feels like a stress test for an entire project.
Pusic Under Pressure
Six names on the treatment table, and most of them important. Merih Demiral tops the list, the Turkish defender a cornerstone of Al-Ahli’s back line. Alongside him: Zakaria Hawsawi, Saleh Abu Al-Shamat, Nayef Masoud, Armenian playmaker Edward Spertsyan and French youngster Valentin Atangana.
That’s not a gap in one position. It’s a fracture running across the team’s structure.
The absences have left coach Matthias Jaissle Pusic facing uncomfortable questions. Results have dipped, performances have frayed, and the mood in the stands has shifted from excitement to anger. According to “Asharq Al-Awsat”, the club hierarchy is already debating the technical staff’s future and whether this group can still steer the season back on track.
A Clasico against Al-Nassr, with fans restless and the squad patched together, is not the kind of fixture any coach chooses. It’s the one that defines him.
A Line-up Built on Medical Reports
The challenge for Pusic is brutal in its simplicity: he cannot plan properly until the doctors deliver their verdicts.
Medical reports in the coming days will determine who can return to group training and who remains out. The club’s medical staff are working flat out, trying to accelerate recoveries while resisting the temptation to rush anyone back before they are fully ready. The line between urgency and risk has rarely felt thinner.
Demiral’s situation alone could reshape the entire defensive set-up. Spertsyan’s availability would change the rhythm and creativity of the midfield. Every name cleared or ruled out forces a fresh tactical calculation.
This isn’t about a single tweak. With injuries spread across the lines, Pusic may have to redraw his entire approach: the structure of his defence, the balance in midfield, the way his team presses and breaks against one of the league’s most dangerous attacks.
Opportunity Inside the Crisis
The international break has at least given Al-Ahli something priceless: time.
Time to address the structural errors that have crept into recent performances. Time to rebuild chemistry in a dressing room that has felt disjointed. Time to rehearse contingency plans if some of the injured fail to make it back for the Clasico.
On the training pitch, that means drilling alternative partnerships, testing different shapes, and identifying which squad players can handle the intensity of a high-stakes meeting with Al-Nassr. The physical readiness must match the technical level; anything less, and Al-Ahli risk being overrun.
For some fringe players, this could be a season-altering window. For Pusic, it is about survival as much as evolution.
Fans on Edge, Season in the Balance
In the stands and on social media, Al-Ahli supporters are waiting for one thing: clarity. Who will be fit? How many starters will be missing? What kind of team will walk out at Al-Inma Stadium?
The stakes are clear. Al-Ahli sit sixth in the Saudi Pro League on 21 points. Al-Nassr are third with 28. Drop more points here and the gap to the leading pack starts to feel less like a hurdle and more like a wall.
The players know what’s at stake. A positive result against Al-Nassr would not just boost the club’s position in the table; it would go a long way toward repairing the bond with a fanbase that expected more from this squad and this project.
Over the next few days, every medical update, every training session, every tactical decision will shape the team that takes the field for the Clasico.
Will the doctors hand Pusic back his key pieces in time, or will Al-Ahli have to confront one of their biggest tests of the season with a makeshift side and a coach fighting to prove he still has answers?
