French coach Laurent Blanc of Ittihad praised the performance of the duo Steven Bergwijn and Abdulrahman Al-Aboud during the victory over Al-Fateh (4-2) in the second round of the Roshan Saudi League.

Blanc said in a press conference after the match: "I am proud of Steven Bergwijn's performance; he put in a great effort during the preparations. As for his joining the Dutch national team, there has been no communication between me and Koeman."

He continued: "We have a defensive issue, but we also need to recover the injured players. We missed Hassan Kaddash and Mario Metai. Regarding contracts, we only added Barnawi, and we have one young defender on the bench. I also thank Abdulrahman Al-Aboud for playing in the left-back position."

Regarding the absent Karim Benzema, Blanc explained: "He has a hamstring injury, and I am not authorized to provide an answer about the duration of his absence. Based on my experience, it is a minor injury."

When asked about the goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Absi's ability to compensate for Rajkovic, he said: "We didn't have many options in goalkeeping, and it is difficult to replace our first-choice goalkeeper, but we will help him gain experience and deliver a distinguished performance."