Vieira holds Danilo Pereira responsible for the stumble against Al-Khulood

Al-Ittihad drew in their opening match of the Roshn League

Germany's Jens Wissing, the head coach of Al-Ittihad, placed the blame for the stumble against Al-Khaleej on his Portuguese defender Danilo Pereira, in the opening match of his tenure in the Saudi Roshn League.

Al-Ittihad were held to a 1-1 draw by visitors Al-Khaleej on Saturday evening at the Al-Inma Stadium in Jeddah, in the first round of the Roshn League.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, in comments reported by the Saudi newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat", Wissing said: "We wanted to win in the first match on our pitch, and the encounter was close."

He added: "We had our moments, but unfortunately we did not exploit them to settle the encounter, and after the red card the task became harder. We are still at the start of the journey, and we want to take the positive aspects and correct the negatives."

The German coach was pointing to the referee's decision to send off Danilo Pereira in the 58th minute, after a VAR check, for kicking an Al-Khaleej player off the ball.

Wissing continued: "I have had five weeks with the players, and I know their capabilities. We had a red card, and all the substitutions are considered, the aim was to increase activity, and any substitution is for a circumstance that occurred in the encounter."

He concluded: "Our focus now is on the next encounter in order to win, and we have three days before the match against Al-Najma. We want to recover well and prepare for the encounter."

Al-Ittihad turn their attention to Al-Najma next Tuesday, in the round of 32 of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup.