Chris Smalling endures horror debut for Saudi Arabian side Al-Fayha | OneFootball

Former Manchester United defender Chris Smalling endured a tough introduction to life in the Saudi Pro League after being sent off and scoring an own goal on his debut for Al-Fayha.

The England international played 323 times for United, winning two Premier League titles.

He departed the club after nine seasons and moved to AS Roma, where he won the Conference League in 2022.

Despite a successful time in Italy, the 34 year old was deemed surplus to requirements in Rome and it was reported last month that he would be keen to drop his wage demands to stay in Europe.

Eventually Smalling accepted a move to Saudi Arabia to play for Al-Fayha FC, as he became the latest European player to make the move to the Middle East.

Unfortunately, according to The Mirror, “Smalling endured a horror debut for Al-Fayha where he scored an own goal before getting sent off in an eventual 5-0 thrashing – with fans comparing it to Jonathan Woodgate’s infamous opener for Real Madrid.”

Making his debut versus Al-Raed, he turned the ball into his own net after only six minutes of play after he was “unable to divert the ball away from his goal following a low cross into his six-yard box.”

His side conceded a further two goals in the first half before things went from bad to worse for the former United man who was sent off after 55 minutes of play.

Sofascore naturally gave the player a terrible rating of 5.6, where very little went right for the 34 year old.

He did make two clearances, one tackle and won both his aerial duels with a passing accuracy of 95%.

Nonetheless, his new club will be expecting significantly more from their experienced summer signings over the course of the season.

Smalling’s team have a lot of work to do however as they sit rooted to the bottom of the table with three losses from their opening three games.

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