Kuumar Shyam (Aletihad)

While everyone is in holiday spirit over the upcoming Eid celebrations, four teams from Saudi Arabia have landed in Abu Dhabi with all eyes on one team more than anyone else.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane's Al Nassr club arrived in the early hours of Sunday for a second trip to the UAE capital in less than a month to play in the Saudi Cup.

Being held outside of the Kingdom for the first time in its history, the short event will be played over two days, on Monday and Thursday, and comprise three matches. Al Nassr came to play Al Ain in the AFC Champions League quarter-finals and lost out to the Garden City club over the two-leg final. Al Ain will now play Al Hilal in the semi-finals.

At Al Nahyan Stadium, Saudi clubs Al Ittihad and Al Wehda will square off with the former boasting Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante in the ranks. This will be followed by a match between Al Hilal and Al Nassr at the Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium at 11.30pm. The final showdown, set to take place at the same venue on Thursday, will see the winners of these matches compete for the championship title.



While Ronaldo fans will hope to see him scoring, having missed out on the scoresheet in Al Ain, Benzema has had a troubled three months with his new team since moving from Abu Dhabi.

He has a point to prove and posted his picture with a travel bag on his shoulders on the X social platform hours before taking flight. The caption in French translated to saying: "Remember, there is always a comeback around nearby."

Since moving to Al Ittihad, Benzema has scored 15 goals in 30 games, but Al Ittihad are well off the pace in the Saudi Pro League title race, in fourth place and 30 points behind leaders Al Hilal.

In a chat with a journalist on Saturday, Benzema suggested he is lacking help from his teammates in handling the transition from Spain to Saudi Arabia. On his drought, he said: "It's because it's not the same game, it's not the same players. I need help on the pitch. I can't win one game alone.

"I need other players and I need a lot of things. But it's different. It's my first season in Saudi, I hope to finish the season well, I hope I win and that's it." Maybe a change of scenery may help him and Al Ittihad salvage some silverware for the season.

The Saudi Cup is part of a strategic initiative led by Experience Abu Dhabi, the destination brand under the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi).