‘Crazy scenes’ – Fans flabbergasted after seeing incredible aerial picture of Italian Super Cup being played in Saudi
FANS have been left stunned after seeing how many fans attended the Italian Super Cup semi-final in Saudi Arabia.
Napoli put aside their recent troubles in Thursday night’s 3-0 win over Fiorentina in Riyadh.
It is not unusual for the competition to move around the world and showcase Italian clubs to other countries, with China, Libya, the US and Qatar all among former hosts.
This is the third time that Saudi Arabia has held the tournament.
And this season is the first time that the Italian Super Cup has been contested with a four-team format, but it doesn’t appear to have captured the imagination of the Saudi Arabian public.
Napoli will face the winner of Friday’s other semi-final, between Inter Milan and Lazio, in the final at the same stadium on Monday night.
An ariel image of the King Saud University Stadium has gone viral as fans are flabbergasted at how empty the ground was.
As one fan said: “Crazy scene, this should go back to Italy.”
While an angry supporter added: “F****** disgrace.”
A third then put: “Imagine watching your team go on a cup run into the final only to be told it’s being played in Saudi, how gutting for the genuine fans.”
Despite the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema playing in the Kingdom the crowds have been embarrassing low in the Gulf State and the Saudi Pro League this term.
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Al-Riyadh, who sit 15th out of 18 teams in Saudi’s top tier, has hosted two matches with less than 150 people watching this season.
Meanwhile, a crunch relegation clash between Abha and Al-Hazm saw just 1.2 per cent of the stadium filled – 257 fans out of a possible 20,000.
More than half the teams in the league have an average attendance of less than 10,000 people.
The influx of star players has not translated into Saudi locals attending matches.
Smallest attendances in Saudi Pro League this season
The five smallest attendances in the Saudi Pro League this season are as follows:
- Al-Riyadh vs Al-Khalee – 144
- Abha vs Al-Hazm – 257
- Al-Riyadh vs Al-Hazm – 264
- Al-Wehda vs Al-Khaleej – 447
- Al-Feiha vs Al-Ettifaq – 610