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The “Leader” scored an important victory over NEOM
“Al-Hilal” club deprived its neighbor and traditional rival, “Al-Nasr” of the opportunity to win two titles in one day, and postponed the decision of the winner of the Saudi Arabian League until the last round.
“Al Hilal” won 2-0 against NEOM in the thirtieth round of the Roshan League today, Saturday, at the “Kingdom Arena” stadium.
Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves opened the scoring for Al Hilal with a penalty in the tenth minute, before Sultan Mandesh scored the second in the 58th minute.
The decision is in the last round
Al-Hilal’s victory postponed the Saudi Arabian League title winner until the final round, where their tally rose to 81 points, which puts them second in the table, two points behind leaders Al-Nasr.
Al-Hilal need to win their final game against Al-Fayha, while Al-Nasr struggle against Damak next Thursday to clinch the Saudi League title, with Al-Alami taking the title if they win either result.
Al-Nasr thus miss out on the chance to win two titles in one day, as a slip-up by Al-Hilal would mean they have officially won the league, while they face Japan’s Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League Final 2.
Al Hilal with a new attack
“Al Hilal” coach Italian Simone Inzaghi had to rely on a new attacking line due to the absence of two of his stars. French Karim Benzema and Saudi Salem Al-Dosari.
The match witnessed the absence of Benzema and Salem Al-Dossari, as the French forward suffered a hamstring injury and the Tornado suffered a knee injury.
Inzaghi opted to rely on Brazilian Marcos Leonardo and Saudi Arabia’s Sultan Mandesh in the forward line instead of the injured duo of the other Brazilian with the other Brazilian Malcolm.
On the other hand, the Italian coach continued to rely on the same team that “Al-Nasr” faced in the last round, in the match that ended with a positive 1-1 result.
The formation of Al-Hilal was as follows.
Goalkeeper: Yasin Bunu
Defensive line: Mutaib Al-Harbi – Ruben Neves – Hassan Timbukti – Theo Hernandez
Midfielder: Mohamed Kanu – Sergey Milinkovic-Savic – Nasser Al-Dosari
Offensive line: Malcolm – Marcos Leonardo – Sultan Mandesh
An early goal…and relative calm
In the tenth minute of the match, Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves opened the scoring for “Al Hilal” from the penalty spot, which was assigned to French winger Theo Hernandez.
But after the goal, the match was relatively quiet until the first half ended with a clean sheet by Al Hilal.
purposeful
Thirteen minutes into the second half, specifically in the 58th minute, Sultan Mandash managed to score the second goal for Al Hilal after he brilliantly turned Malcolm’s cross into the net.
As was the case in the first half, there was a lull in the match after the second goal, as Al-Hilal gave the ball to NEOM, who tried to reduce the deficit, but to no avail, so the match ended with Al-Zaim winning 2-0.
