Al-Ittihad have defeated Al-Fateh 2-1 away from home in the Saudi Pro League’s seventh round to return to the top of the standings.
Following their 4-3 defeat to rivals Al-Hilal last month, Al-Ittihad had lost their place at the top to the Blues in the Saudi Pro League table.
The Tigers returned to winning ways after the international break with a narrow 1-0 away victory over Al-Akhdoud before thrashing Uzbek side AGMK 3-0 in the AFC Champions League group stages during the week.
Despite their momentum, Al-Ittihad an unexpected start to the game and conceded at the half-hour mark from a well-worked set-piece routine by Al-Fateh.
A precise free-kick delivery into the box was flicked at the near post by Marwane Saadane beyond Marcelo Grohe for Al-Fateh’s opening goal.
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was without goalscorers Karim Benzema and Morocco’s Abderrazak Hamdallah as the pair were ruled out with an injury.
However, the Portuguese manager relied on Romarinho to get the goals and the Brazilian did not disappoint after scoring the leveller just seven minutes later.
In the 38th minute, N’Golo Kante made a darting run forward before setting up Romarinho for a calm finish into the bottom corner.
Having grabbed the assist for the first goal, Kante was on the scene again as he popped up with a thunderous strike at the edge of the box to give Al-Ittihad the lead.
His contributions allowed Al-Ittihad to leapfrog Al-Hilal and retain their spot at the top of the Saudi Pro League standings with 18 points.
“We deserved the win today,” Romarinho told SSC Sports after the game. “We claimed three important points because we had so many injuries but we still played a great game.”