Al-Ittihad defender Saad Al-Mousa has fired back at his former coach, Portugal's Sergio Conceicao, after the controversial remarks the Portuguese made in the past few hours.
Conceicao took aim at the mentality of Saudi players following his spell in the Roshn League with Al-Ittihad. They lack the required professionalism, he argued, and their mentality is poor.
Al-Mousa hit back after steering Al-Ittihad to a 4-1 win over Al-Ettifaq on Tuesday evening, at the latter's stadium, in the tenth round of the Saudi Roshn League.
Speaking to the "Nadeena" programme on "MBC 1", Al-Mousa said: "Two days ago a statement came out from a former coach in which he talked about the professionalism of the Saudi player. I would like to assure everyone that this statement is completely untrue."
He added: "I do not know the purpose of this statement. Perhaps he saw the Saudi player as the weakest link to justify his own lack of success, and I would have wished he had been more courageous, and that he had mentioned the actual reasons for which he was responsible."
Rounding off his response, he said: "The support that Saudi football receives is unprecedented, and the Saudi player is fully aware and conscious of the importance of Saudi football and its reputation, and I do not expect that this naive sensationalism will affect the project of developing the Saudi player."
Conceicao took charge of Al-Ittihad last season. He finished the Saudi League in fifth place, crashed out of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup in the semi-final and fell at the quarter-final stage of the AFC Champions League Elite.