JEDDAH: Al-Ahli captain Roberto Firmino has praised goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s ‘amazing’ assist for Riyad Mahrez’s goal during his team’s dominant 5-0 victory over Al-Riyadh on Sunday.
Mendy produced a 75-yard pass to help Mahrez score Al-Ahli’s final goal in the 88th minute that was so perfect, it could have been the Algerian winger himself striking the ball.
Falling to his knees after claiming a catch, the former Chelsea goalkeeper spotted a potential attack and sprang up to kick the ball towards the sprinting Mahrez on the right wing.
The former Manchester City star played it inside with his right foot expertly, smashing a first-time shot with his left from 25 yards out that soared into the top of Milan Borgan’s net. It was so good, as many Al-Ahli players ran to congratulate their goalkeeper as they did the scorer.
“It was an amazing pass, congratulations to him,” said Firmino. “For a goalkeeper to (be able to) do that… amazing. Congratulations.”
Firmino himself was on the scoresheet, tapping home the third goal from Franck Kessie’s pass for his ninth strike of the season. The victory also included two goals by Ivan Toney — “It’d have been better if it was a hat-trick,” quipped the Englishman later — and a looping header from Ziyad Al-Johani.
Kessie and Firmino also had goals ruled out by VAR, the former after a foul in the build up by the latter, and Firmino due to an offside call.
The result leaves the Jeddah team, who have won four out of their last five matches, in fifth place in the Roshn Saudi League. They are three points off Al-Nassr in fourth and five behind Al-Qadisiyah in third.
“It was a big three points,” said 33-year-old former Liverpool forward Firmino. “I’m very happy to score again and help the team. We fight for everything, and we’ll do our best to achieve our goals in the future. We just need to keep winning games.
“I love it here, I’m happy. Scoring goals helps the team and that’s my goal every game so we’re getting better day by day.”
Al-Riyadh dropped to eighth in the table after the game, with coach Sabri Lamouchi saying Matthias Jaissle’s team were “excellent.”
“I want to congratulate Al-Ahli for the win,” he said. “Luck was not on our side. I don’t think it mattered if we played with four or five defenders. We might have lost because we did a few changes in the defensive line, but we played against a big team, an organized team, and an excellent team.”
