Al-Hilal climbed to third in the Saudi Pro League standings following a 2-0 victory over Al-Ittihad at Alinma Bank Stadium, located within King Abdullah Sport City. The win was secured through an own goal
by Mahamadou Doumbia and a close-range finish from Marcos Leonardo, with each goal coming on either side of halftime. This result extended Al-Hilal's winning streak across all competitions to six matches.
Marcos Leonardo nearly opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes, but his shot hit the post. Shortly after, Moussa Diaby missed two quick chances for the home team. Al-Hilal eventually took the lead just before halftime. Ruben Neves delivered a corner that Darwin Nunez flicked on at the near post, leading to Doumbia inadvertently heading it past his own goalkeeper, Hamed Al Shanqiti.
In the second half, Ruben Neves played a crucial role again. His long-range shot was parried by the goalkeeper, allowing Leonardo to react swiftly and score Al-Hilal's second goal in the 57th minute. Although Darwin Nunez thought he had added a third goal for Al-Hilal late in the game, it was ruled out for offside. Meanwhile, Karim Benzema missed two late chances for Al-Ittihad as they failed to stage a comeback.
Despite having fewer shots overall, Al-Hilal created more significant opportunities during the match. They achieved an expected goals (xG) value of 1.72 from 11 attempts compared to Al-Ittihad's 0.83 from 15 shots. This match also marked a milestone for Al-Hilal as they became the first team in Saudi Pro League history to score 500 away goals in the competition.
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Sergio Conceicao faced challenges as he became the first manager of Al-Ittihad since Slaven Bilic in October 2018 to go winless in his initial two league games, excluding interim coaches. His tenure began with a 1-1 draw against Al-Fayha before this defeat against Al-Hilal.
This victory allowed Al-Hilal to surpass Al-Ahli in the league table after Matthias Jaissle's team had briefly overtaken them with a narrow win over Al-Najma on Thursday. Marcos Leonardo's goal not only contributed to this important win but also increased their total away goals tally to 501β57 more than any other team in the league.
