Ittihad edge Las Palmas in fiery Marbella friendly as winning tour continues

Al Ittihad made it two wins from two on their pre-season camp in Spain with a 2-1 victory over Las Palmas, sealed by first-half goals from foreign duo Moussa Diaby and Roger Fernandes in a contentious friendly in Marbella.

The Saudi Pro League side, preparing for the 2026-27 campaign, followed up Tuesday’s 3-2 success against South Africa’s Orlando Pirates with another narrow win on Saturday, this time against La Liga outfit Las Palmas.

French winger Diaby opened the scoring on 15 minutes, bursting clear down the right flank before racing through on goal and calmly finishing past the Spanish side’s goalkeeper.

Soon after, the match swung further in Ittihad’s favour when a Las Palmas player was sent off in the 23rd minute for an off-the-ball incident involving Ittihad midfielder Muath Faqihi. The referee showed a red card after the Las Palmas player was deemed to have assaulted Faqihi away from the play.

Fernandes doubles the lead

Ittihad tightened their grip on the contest early in the second half, with Portuguese winger Roger Fernandes adding a second goal five minutes after the restart.

Fernandes struck in almost identical fashion to Diaby, breaking away down the right wing before cutting through on goal and placing his shot into the net to make it 2-0 to the Jeddah club.

Despite playing with 10 men, Las Palmas continued to search for a route back into the game and were eventually rewarded with a late consolation.

Las Palmas hit back via deflected strike

The only goal for the Spanish side arrived in the 77th minute, when a powerful shot from outside the penalty area took a significant deflection off Ittihad defender Mohammed Barnawi.

The effort wrong-footed substitute goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Absi, leaving him helpless as the ball flew past him and into the net to reduce the deficit.

Ittihad finished the match with 10 men of their own after Farhah Al-Shamrani was sent off in the closing stages, adding further drama to what had been a competitive and occasionally heated pre-season encounter.

Veselinovic rotates squad

German coach Jens Vessing, in charge of Ittihad’s preparations for the new season, started the match with a line-up largely built around his first-choice players.

He then turned to his bench in the second half, introducing a number of substitutes to share minutes across the squad and maintain fitness levels during the Marbella training camp.

The victory extends the winning run for “Al-Nimour” (The Tigers) on Spanish soil, backing up their 3-2 win over Orlando Pirates earlier in the week. That match, played on Tuesday, was Ittihad’s opening outing of the summer tour.

Final test before return to Jeddah

Ittihad are scheduled to play one more friendly before flying back to Saudi Arabia, facing Real Mallorca in their final Marbella fixture on 30 July.

After returning to Jeddah, “Al-Ameed” (The Dean) will focus on competitive action, with their first official match of the 2026-27 season coming in Asian competition rather than domestically.

The Saudi club open their campaign on 11 August, when they meet UAE side Al Jazira in a play-off for a place in the AFC Champions League Elite. The tie will determine whether Ittihad progress to the group phase of the continent’s revamped top-tier club competition.