Despite Al Fayha’s elimination from the AFC Champions League after two consecutive defeats to Al Nassr, Zambia’s Fashion Sakala walked away with his head held high after exiting the competition as his team’s top scorer and having the opportunity to exchange shirts with his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Al Nassr eliminated Al Fayha with a 2-0 loss in the round of 16. This was following a 1-0 defeat in the first leg.
Ronaldo and his Portuguese compatriot, Atavio, scored the goals for Al Nassr.
Sakala, on the other hand, finished his Champions League campaign with three goals and two assists in eight games, the most of any Al Fayha player.
After exchanging shirts with his idol in the first leg, Sakala took to social media to make a wish.
He wrote,” @cristiano Thank you, idol. I love him. Swapping shirts with him it’s crazy, I can’t lie. I hope he will keep mine too.”
The Chipolopolo star continued: “GOD BLESS 🙏🏿Great feeling to share the pitch with my Idol @cristiano truly dreams don’t die😢 FS10 DREAMS DON’T DIE💪🏿 Read:Matthew 6:33🙏🏿🙏🏿 Prayers and hard work will take you to places you’ve never dreamed of.”
Whats next for Sakala and Al Fayha?
This season marked Al Fayha’s first appearance in Asia’s premier international club competition. Prior to 2023–24, Al Fayha had never qualified for the AFC Champions League.
The Saudi side sat at the bottom of Group A after playing four of the competition’s six matches. They had two matches left to save their debut season in the AFC Champions League, and Fashion Sakala came to their rescue.
On Matchday 5, Sakala scored and assisted in Al Fayha’s 3-1 victory over Ahal. He also scored twice in the final group match and assisted on a goal against Pakhtakor in a 4-1 comeback win.
Sakala’s performances helped Al Fayha advance to the AFC Champions League knockout stage for the first time.
With Al Fayha sitting 13th in the Saudi Pro League, Sakala and his team will now focus on domestic football to avoid relegation from the top flight.
They will host Abha on Saturday for the matchday 21 fixture in the league.
