Al-Hilal's first football team succeeded in strengthening its position at the top of the Saudi Professional League standings, after achieving a wide and well-deserved victory over its guest, Al-Hazm team, with a score of (3-0), in the match that brought them together on Thursday evening as part of the fourteenth round of the competition.
The importance of winning and the context of the competition
This match takes on added importance given the fierce competition for the Saudi League title, which has become a global spectacle thanks to its attraction of some of the world's biggest football stars. Al-Hilal, the record holder for the most domestic and Asian titles, aims to reaffirm its dominance and reclaim the title. Every victory represents a crucial step towards widening the gap with its closest rivals, particularly its traditional rival, Al-Nassr, thus placing additional pressure on the other leading teams.
First half details: Blue dominance and Savic's goal
The match began with intense attacking pressure from the home side, Al-Hilal, who imposed their style from the opening minutes. Portuguese player Ruben Neves almost opened the scoring early in the second minute with a deceptive corner kick, but Al-Hazm goalkeeper Bruno Varela made a difficult save. Al-Hilal continued to press, with Varela denying Marcos Leonardo's shot, while the defense effectively neutralized Salem Al-Dawsari's run.
Al-Hilal's dominance paid off in the 29th minute when Serbian star Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opened the scoring, expertly converting a perfectly weighted long ball into the net to give the Blues the lead. Despite Al-Hazm's attempts to regroup, Al-Hilal continued to threaten through shots from Mohamed Kanno and Malcom, which were brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Varela, ensuring the first half ended with a well-deserved lead for the Blues.
Second half: Consolidating the score and securing the points
At the start of the second half, Al-Hazm attempted a comeback with a powerful shot from Basel Al-Sayali that went just wide of the post, but Al-Hilal quickly regained control. In the 56th minute, Portuguese player Ruben Neves unleashed a thunderous strike from outside the penalty area that found the back of the net, making it 2-0 and further complicating matters for the visitors.
The final minutes of the match saw tactical changes from Al-Hilal's coach to inject fresh energy into the team, bringing on Abdulkarim Darci, Caio Cesar, Saad Al-Mutairi, and Ali Lajami. In the final minute of regulation time (90th minute), Uruguayan Darwin Nunez completed Al-Hilal's scoring with a third goal after receiving a brilliant through ball from Caio Cesar, prompting the referee to blow the final whistle.
The two teams' positions in the standings
With this valuable victory, Al-Hilal increased their points tally to 35, tightening their grip on the top spot and widening the gap to 4 points over their closest pursuer, Al-Nassr (who have a game in hand). Meanwhile, Al-Hazm's situation worsened as their points total remained at 13, leaving them languishing in eleventh place, placing them in the relegation zone and forcing them to seek quick solutions in the upcoming rounds to avoid being drawn into the relegation battle.
