Al-Ahli’s Riyad Mahrez revealed he played through injury after claiming a hard-fought league victory against Al-Taawoun.
The Jeddah giants managed to overcome Al-Taawoun 3-2 in the Saudi Pro League’s sixth round on Saturday despite throwing away a two-goal lead.
An early double from Al-Ahli was cancelled out by goals from Joao Pedro and Mussa Barrow before Allan Saint-Maximin scored the decisive winner with a venomous strike.
The game also witnessed late drama as both teams were reduced to ten men in stoppage time with goalscorer Abdulbasit Hindi and Alvaro Medran receiving red cards.
Speaking after the game, Riyad Mahrez talked about Al-Ahli’s performance and revealed he played the full 90 minutes with an injury problem.
“The most important thing is the three points today,” Mahrez told SSC Sports after the game. “We controlled the game but we made too many mistakes at the same time.
“But we will continue to develop as a team and try to avoid giving the ball away unnecessarily while also working on improving our finishing.”
“I spent last night at the hospital because I had some problems but I tried to give my best to the team today,” he added.
The Algerian and Al-Ahli will hope to build on their win over Al-Taawoun before their highly-anticipated league encounter on Friday.
The 2015-16 champions will travel to face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, who have been in red-hot form in recent weeks.
Despite losing their opening two games, Luiz Castro’s side have scored 17 goals in their last four league outings and are currently in sixth place with 12 points, just three behind Al-Ahli.