Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr go down fighting in AFC Champions League

LONDON: Something special is happening at Al-Qadsiah this season. Since returning to the Saudi Pro League after a five-year absence, coach Michel’s side — emboldened by a host of new summer arrivals — is defying expectations and stands on the brink of a historic campaign.

Currently third in the Saudi Pro League table after a 2-0 win over Al-Okhdood on Friday and with a King’s Cup semi-final against Al-Raed to come in April, Qadsiah have been one of the Kingdom’s most consistent sides in 2024-2025. Just as he did when winning the Saudi First Division title last season, Michel has built a team that is defensively sound, but sprinkled liberally with attacking stardust.

Providing Qadsiah’s solidity between the posts this time around is Belgium national team goalkeeper Koen Casteels, who ended a nine-year stint at Wolfsburg to move to the Kingdom last summer.

Casteels was one of several new arrivals, joining the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Julian Quinones and Nacho Fernandez in seeing Qadsiah’s potential to be more competitive than most normal newly-promoted sides.

“I think it was very clear from how the club talked to me before I signed, but also in the way they recruited other players, that there were big ambitions,” Casteels told Arab News. 

“But simply getting good players is not enough in football. I think the recruitment was very smart in every position — not only big names but smart decisions.

“Now we have a team that fits together very well and I think that’s one of the main reasons why we are now up there (at the top end of the table).”

Casteels admitted that seeing the exodus of talented players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema from Europe to Saudi Arabia piqued his interest in a move to the Kingdom, although he is keen to highlight the increasing depth in quality throughout the Saudi Pro League.

“It’s very nice to play against these big names but I think it’s far more than only these big names,” Casteels said. “I think there are also a lot of players who maybe don’t have the name of Ronaldo or Benzema but are just quality-wise very good; this is what you see in teams throughout the league — they all have good players.

“You see every transfer window that there are big names and good players coming to the league. That was also the point that made me say ‘OK, why shouldn't I go?’ Because the quality is improving and the league is getting better and better.”

Casteels was one of Qadsiah’s first summer acquisitions, announced before his participation in Euro 2024 with Belgium. It was followed by the marquee signings of Real Madrid stalwart Fernandez and former Barcelona and Arsenal forward Aubameyang, which really signalled Qadsiah’s intent for the 2024-2025 campaign.

“On the pitch they bring a lot of quality, experience and know-how in certain situations,” Casteels said of Nacho and Aubameyang. “Especially for me as a goalkeeper, it’s great to have a guy like Nacho in front of me who knows exactly what to do in different situations — making smart decisions and positioning himself.

“It’s very nice to play with those guys and obviously Auba is also scoring for us and doing well. Apart from the hard work that he does for us as a team, he’s entertaining too. It’s also nice to have a guy who is also speaking French. He’s a really great guy.

“Some people maybe would think he’s 35 and he’s just ending his career in Saudi Arabia, but he’s so hardworking. Every day I see him in the gym, still putting the work in. That’s also very important because we want to evolve as a team and we want to grow as a team and therefore we need everybody on their top level. These guys are doing that.”

With quality now running through the backbone of Qadsiah’s team, the club is enjoying its best season in more than 30 years. Qadsiah won the Crown Prince’s Cup in 1992, before adding the Saudi Federation Cup and Asian Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994; they remain the club’s only major trophies.

But with a convincing 3-0 victory over Al-Taawoun last month, Casteels and Co. put Qadsiah into the King’s Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1989. Now only Al-Raed stand in the club’s way of a first final — in which either Al-Ittihad or Al-Shabab would await.

“If you’re into the last four, I would lie if I say, ‘let’s only see in the next game’,” Casteels said. “Of course, if you’re into the last four, you want to win the tournament. But it also depends on a lot of factors and it is really the next game we have to win to get into the final. Then everything is possible.

“I have had some experiences in Germany where you face a team which on paper is maybe not the biggest. But it’s the cup and it’s the semi-final of the cup so you have to take it as an extremely difficult game. I think when there are still four teams left, there are no easy games anymore.

“It’s still a long way off so we will focus on the league and then the cup can come. But of course we are very hungry for it. I think all the players want to go into the final to see what happens there.”

Whether or not Michel’s side wins the King’s Cup, their league form may still be enough to carry Qadsiah to qualification for their first AFC Champions League Elite campaign. Casteels, however, is keen to take it one game at a time.

“I think if you focus on trying to get better every game or every training then maybe this (AFC Champions League qualification) will come automatically if you’re good enough. We are not thinking a lot about that to be honest at the moment — it’s not a big talking point in the dressing room.”

Casteels has been playing at the top level for his entire career — spending 13 years in Germany with Hoffenheim, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg. Before that, he came through the academy of four-time Belgian Pro League winners Genk.

The goalkeeper is in illustrious company, with fellow Belgian national team players Yannick Carrasco, Christian Benteke, Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois also on Genk’s impressive list of academy graduates. Casteels is the same age as Courtois, but played a year ahead of the Real Madrid goalkeeper as both players emerged at Genk.

“We both had games on the weekend, which was very important for our development,” Casteels recalled. “I think he played one game for the Genk first team when he was 16 but then a few months later I went to Hoffenheim so we went our separate ways and had our own careers. 

“It was nice to have him with me at Genk. We were friends — going to the same school, sitting in the same class. We grew up together in Genk and played in two different youth teams so there was not really competition. We trained together a few times and obviously it’s nice to have quality goalkeepers because this also elevates you.”

When it comes to world-class goalkeepers, however, there was one name who stood head and shoulders above the rest as a role model for Casteels growing up.

“I always looked up to Edwin van der Sar because he was doing his job in a very easy way,” Casteels said. “He was always in the right position, good with his feet — and there was never too much show or shouting a lot.

“He was maybe not like the typical footballer — quite shy and with his feet on the ground. He would just do the job and I think this was something I could relate to.”

At Qadsiah, Casteel has quickly built a reputation as a reliable No. 1 whose solidity has helped his team have the meanest defence in the Saudi Pro League this season. The Belgian has conceded just 15 goals, and kept 11 clean sheets, although he is quick to credit the contributions of others.

“One of our strengths this season and why we kept so many clean sheets is that the whole team is defending,” he says. “The defence is doing well and they rely on the midfielders — then the midfielders rely on the attackers to press and run.”

Casteels also believes the guidance from Michel has been key to the club’s success so far this season and says that with the Spaniard at the helm, Qadsiah’s players believe that anything is possible.

“He is a very good coach tactically but also a very good people manager,” Casteels said. “He has a lot of experience and knows exactly what a team needs. He’s a guy who you can always go to talk to about something. He's very open-minded — like a father to us.

“This team fits well together and tactically I have to say every time when we followed the plan of the coach that we trained for in the week, we felt that we were at the right pace, even if we didn’t win. I can say that technically he was not wrong in any games — this is a great quality for any coach.”