Said Benrahma's Match-Winning Gesture at Al-Awwal Park

Said Benrahma didn’t just decide the match. He rewrote its epilogue.

At Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, the Algerian playmaker drove Neom to a 2-1 win over Al-Diriyah in the twelfth round of the Saudi Roshn League, then turned the spotlight away from himself the moment the final whistle blew.

He had every right to keep it. Benrahma opened the scoring from the penalty spot, capping an outstanding performance that rightly earned him the man of the match award. Neom, pushed hard by Al-Diriyah, needed his calm from twelve yards and his constant threat between the lines.

But when the individual trophy arrived, Benrahma had another move in mind.

He beckoned Alexandre Lacazette over, the French forward who struck Neom’s second and ultimately decisive goal. Instead of posing alone, Benrahma shared the award with his team-mate, effectively splitting the honour in recognition of the strike that killed off the contest.

It was a gesture with a familiar echo.

Cristiano Ronaldo had done something similar only a week earlier. After Al-Nassr’s 3-1 victory over Al-Faisaly in the eleventh round, the Portuguese star handed his own man of the match award to Abdullah Al-Hamdan, rewarding the Saudi forward’s impact in that win.

Ronaldo’s decision lit the fuse. Benrahma’s followed the same line.

Not everyone is impressed.

Sami Al-Jaber, the Saudi football great, has already voiced his frustration at the growing trend, criticising the repetition of these handovers since Ronaldo’s act and dismissing it as a “fashion” that must be confronted.

For now, though, the players keep passing the prize around, turning a simple post-match ceremony into a small but pointed statement about how they see the modern game: less about the name on the plaque, more about the names on the teamsheet.