FORMER Zimbabwe international captain, Knowledge Musona scored a historic goal for Al Riyadh in the Saudi Pro League on Sunday evening.
The 33-year-old Musona’s goal was enough to earn Al Riyadh a 1-0 win over a dominant Al Wehda in their opening match of the season.
It was their First goal and First win in the Saudi Pro League having earned promotion in the 2022/23 season.
Al Wehda dominated the match, finished with 62 percent ball possession, had 19 shots compared to Al Riyadh’s 6 and had an 8-3 advantage on shots on target but could not breach the hosts’ defence.
Musona was given the captain’s armband when he joined the Riyadh side in the off season after leaving Saudi Pro League team Al Tai, where he was also the club captain.
The Saudi Pro League has been transformed this summer with a host of high-profile additions – and there’s more still to come. Karim Benzema, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane and N’Golo Kante are among the big-name players to head to the Middle East.
It comes after the Saudi government announced an intention to invest around £16billion into the league over the next decade by signing ‘very big’ names.
Cristiano Ronaldo started the stream of talent heading to the Gulf state last season when he joined Al Nassr in December after leaving Manchester United.
Saudi Arabia plan to use their riches to turn the Pro League into a top 10 league and have handed out some huge deals. Ronaldo earns £177m each season at Al Nassr while Al Ittihad are paying £172m per year to Benzema and £86m a year to Kante. Henderson – who quit his role as Liverpool captain to join Al Ettifaq – is on around £700,000 a week too –Sports Reporter/Guardian.