September 15, (THEWILL) – Al Hilal continued their impressive start to the Saudi League season with a 6-1 demolition of Al Riyadh at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium on Friday, with Neymar making a second-half debut with an assist to his name.
The hosts scored two goals in the first half and added four more in the second to seal their fifth win in six games. Serbian striker, Aleksandar Mitrović, opened the scoring with a half-hour penalty and Yassir Al Shahrani doubled their lead in the extra time before the interval, thanks to a Sergej Milinković-Savić assist.
In the second half, with the score unchanged after the hour mark, Al Riyadh Manager, Yannick Ferreira, made some changes, which Al Hilal Manager, Jorge Jesus, matched by bringing in Neymar and Nasser Al Dawsari. The latter wasted no time to increase their lead four minutes later. Neymar provided an assist as Malcolm made it 4-0
Salem Al-Dawsari scored two quickfire goals with a penalty in the 87th minute and another goal in extra time to complete the rout. Al Riyadh managed to score a consolatory goal late in the match through substitute Ali Al Zaqan.
The result puts Al Hilal on top of the table with 16 points, just one ahead of second-placed Al Ittihad. Al Riyadh remain in 16th place with four points. The match was witnessed by a crowd of 30,000 people, who enjoyed a spectacular display of attacking football by Al Hilal.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
