RIYADH: Visitors Al-Hilal defeated Al-Ettifaq in Dammam on Saturday afternoon to climb to second in the Saudi Pro League table as domestic football returns to the Kingdom following a week that saw the national team qualify to the 2026 World Cup.
The 5-0 win reestablished Al-Hilal’s title pretensions and left them on 11 points from five matches. Al-Ettifaq remain in 10th with seven points from the same number of fixtures.
Marco Leonardo opened the scoring after only 15 minutes, finishing past Marek Rodak after some poor defending from the Ettifaq defenders following Al-Hilal rightback Hamad Al-Yami’s cross from the byline.
The lead was doubled on 39 minutes when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic disposed Duda in the middle of the park and found Malcolm and the right wing. The Brazilian in turn squared a simple pass to Darwin Nunez to score from close range. On the sideline Simone Inzaghi applauded another fine team goal.
While the home team attempted to reduce the deficit before the break with a concerted period of pressure, it was Al-Hilal who continued to look the more dangerous on the break. The first half would see no further goals.
If Al-Hilal had been the more threatening team in the first half, they were brutally dominant in the early stages of the second.
Ruben Neves made it 3-0 from the penalty spot in the 48th minute to end the match as a contest before the home team had any chance of making a belated impression on it.
Only seven minutes later, a free kick from Neves was nodded by the tireless Nunez toward Leonardo, who made it four with a close range-header.
The ordeal for Al-Ettifaq was not over. On 74 minutes, Milinkovic-Savic’s inch-perfect cross from the right was met at the near post by Nunez for his second and Al-Hilal’s fifth of the night.
Al-Hilal next welcome Qatar’s Al-Sadd to Riyadh in the AFC Champions League Elite, before traveling to Jeddah for a Saudi Pro League clash with reigning champions Al-Ittihad.
