Al-Ahli's Mini Clásico Disruption: Ivan Toney Out
Al-Ahli walked into Riyadh’s SHG Arena for their so‑called mini clásico with a major hole in the team sheet. Ivan Toney, the English striker signed to lead their Roshn League charge, never made it back from London in time.
A hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, where Toney faced a charge of assaulting a person by battery, cut straight across Al-Ahli’s plans. By the time legal proceedings wrapped up, the clock had already beaten any realistic attempt to fly him in for Friday’s clash with Al-Shabab.
The club had to rip up the script.
Toney out, Qatar next
Saudi outlet Arriyadiyah reported that logistics, not selection, ruled Toney out. There was no late dash, no private jet drama, just a simple, immovable fact: he ran out of time to make the Al-Shabab game.
So the focus for Toney shifts to Qatar. He is expected to rejoin the squad ahead of Monday’s AFC Champions League Elite meeting with Al-Sadd, a continental stage that suddenly feels even more important after this domestic disruption.
On league duty, though, Dutch coach Marino Pusic had to improvise.
Pusic reshapes the attack
With Toney unavailable, Pusic handed the No. 9 role to Firas Al-Buraikan, trusting the Saudi international to carry the scoring burden in a fixture that has grown in intensity and profile in recent seasons.
Either side of him, there was European and South American craft. Portugal’s Francisco Trincao and Brazil’s Matheus Goncalves were tasked with stretching Al-Shabab, providing the width and invention Toney usually feeds off.
Another Brazilian, Wenderson Galeno, had to settle for a watching brief at kick-off. Cleared after an injury that had kept him out of the last four matches, he was named among the substitutes, a potential game-changer rather than a guaranteed starter.
Big calls in goal
Pusic also made a bold decision in goal. Edouard Mendy travelled with the squad to Riyadh but never made the matchday cut. The Senegalese international, one of the league’s highest-profile keepers, watched on as Abdulrahman Al-Sanbi kept his place between the posts.
It was a clear vote of confidence in the Saudi goalkeeper on a night when Al-Ahli, sixth in the table with 21 points from seven wins and three defeats, could not afford to slip against a struggling opponent. Al-Shabab, twelfth on 11 points, are fighting to drag themselves away from the lower reaches of the Roshn League.
How Al-Ahli lined up
- Goalkeeper: Abdulrahman Al-Sanbi
- Defence: Mohammed Abdulrahman, Roger Ibanez, Rayan Hamed, Saad Balobaid
- Midfield: Valentin Atangana, Artem Bondarenko, Ziyad Al-Johani
- Attack: Francisco Trincao, Firas Al-Buraikan, Saleh Abu Al-Shamat
A reshuffled front line, a brave call in goal, and a star forward grounded by a courtroom schedule rather than a tactical tweak. For a club with Al-Ahli’s ambitions, the question now is simple: can they keep pace in the title race while waiting for Ivan Toney to truly start his Saudi chapter?
