Cristiano Ronaldo and co would like to repeat their last year’s Arab Cup final performance against Al Hilal. As the two teams meet in the Saudi Super Cup on Monday in UAE, the attention will be on the on-field decisions by the referees. And this time, despite demands for foreign arbitration, the two main reported officials for the game are from Saudi itself. But who are these referees in a high-profile match? How well are they equipped to handle such pressure?

Meanwhile, despite leading the scoring charts, Cristiano Ronaldo feels like he’s been on the wrong end of officiating decisions this season. The Portuguese icon even went on to ask for an official to be replaced during a game, revealing the extent of his displeasure. With so much scrutiny, it would be interesting to see how the two Arabian referees will cope during the game.

Meet the two experienced referees for Al Nassr vs. Al Hilal

The Super Cup clash between the two best teams in the SPL on Monday will be officiated by familiar faces: Mohammed Al Hoaish and Khaled Al Turais. After a period where clubs could choose foreign referees, this match will have local officiating to people’s surprise. Moreover, both teams will be well-acquainted with Al Hoaish and Al Turais, who are seasoned referees in the Saudi Pro League. Nevertheless, Al Hoaish, the more experienced of the two at 37 years old, is expected to take the lead referee role.

With nearly 10 years of experience as a FIFA coach, and 104 Saudi Pro League games under his belt, Al Nassr may not despise Al Hoaish’s appointment. Officiating two of their games against Al Ettifaq and this season, Al Nassr won both those matches. But, Al Hoaish did not get a chance for even a single Al Hilal game this season.

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On the other hand, Al-Turais, a 36-year-old who became an international referee in 2016, has slightly less experience than his colleague with 88 league games. He too officiated in 2 of Al Nassr’s victories this season. Interestingly, reports indicate that despite complaints against refereeing, neither Al Nassr nor Al Hilal requested foreign ones for the semifinals. So, the question remains – who lobbied for a non-local official in the first place?

League champions seek foreign referees instead of Al Nassr and Al Hilal

The report of selecting local referees is a surprise when SAFF has given the teams the option to go for foreign officials for the semifinals. Nevertheless, neither team demanded any outside official and turned a deaf year. However, it was Karim Benzema’s Al Ittihad that had a problem with local referees and requested the SAFF to bring in arbitrators from another place. This was a precautionary measure to avoid any controversies associated with SPL referees this season. Al Ittihad will also take on Al Wehda tomorrow in another semifinal.

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Meanwhile, the team in yellow despite leveraging the services of top players like Sadio Mane and Aymeric Laporte could not have any advantage over their Riyadh rivals. However, a semifinal victory would be a welcome reward for the Knights of Najd, but they’ll be hoping for a clean game with no officiating mistakes.

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