Social Media Battles Between Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr… Six Years of Sarcastic Posts
Al-Khamisa News Network - Gaza
The excitement of the matches between Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr extends beyond the stadium and has recently developed into a “battle” on their official social media accounts on X (formerly Twitter), culminating in an incident involving French star Karim Benzema on Tuesday.
Al-Nassr defeated Al-Ittihad 2-1 in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final on Tuesday, following which they posted several tweets directed at their rivals. One featured a photo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema with the caption: “Famous under his shadow… today he thought he would be the best!”
Some followers interpreted this as a reference to the period when both team captains played for Real Madrid (2009-2018), during which Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was the team’s main star. After Ronaldo’s departure, Benzema became the club’s star until he left for Al-Ittihad two years ago.
In another post, the official Al-Nassr account wrote: “Only one yellow can be followed… not colored differently,” accompanied by a series of photos from the match.
After Al-Ittihad’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Al-Nassr in May of the previous year, the club’s account posted: “We have traditions and customs with Al-Nassr… We leave a mark and move forward.”
On December 26, 2023, Al-Nassr’s official account on X posted: “On a night when the global team did not perform at its best… Al-Nassr scored five against Al-Ittihad,” marking their first league victory over the Jeddah-based club since December 2018.
Following their victory over Al-Nassr in the first round of the season in December 2024, Al-Ittihad’s account posted: “We have traditions and customs with Al-Nassr… We leave a mark and move forward.”
On December 26, 2023, Al-Nassr also posted: “On a night when the international team did not perform at its best… Al-Nassr scored five against Al-Ittihad,” referring to their first league victory over the club since December 2018.
Following Al-Nassr’s 1-0 victory in the 2022-2023 season, Al-Ittihad’s official account posted sarcastically: “We’ve reached a stage where the central defender makes a move,” alongside four images of defender Ahmed Sharahili dribbling past Nassar players and passing to Romarinho, who scored the sole goal of the match.
The official Al-Ittihad account also shared a screenshot of Abdelrazek Hamdallah’s goal against Al-Nassr in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final in January 2023, with the caption: “And those who do not recognize your worth, let them be.” This was a clear jab at Al-Nassr, which terminated the Moroccan’s contract in late 2021 before he transferred to Al-Ittihad and scored against his former team.
In April 2019, interim Ittihad President Luay Nasser intervened to request the deletion of a tweet posted by the club’s account after winning two matches against Al-Nassr in both league and cup competitions, writing: “Do you have the strength to play in Asia?”
