RIYADH: Salem Al-Dawari showed why he is the Asian Player of the Year on Friday as he led Al-Hilal to a 2-0 win at Al-Fateh that puts the leaders seven points clear at the top of the Roshn Saudi League.
It was a virtuoso performance from the Saudi Arabian star even if his team were not at their best. Al-Fateh, who would have gone second with a victory, will feel that they should have got something from the game but ultimately lacked the kind of match-winning ability that Al-Dawsari demonstrated.
Few teams have the winning ability of Al-Hilal, the most successful club in Saudi Arabia and Asia, who have now won nine matches in a row. Ominously for a team that has yet to show their best on a consistent basis, the Blues have dropped just four points this season and Al-Dawsari looks to be finding his best form.
It took the Riyadh giants just five minutes to open the scoring. Al-Dawsari, freshly returned from Qatar with his his personal award, was full of energy and menace from the start. The winger picked up the ball on the left and raced into the area, leaving blue-shirted defenders in his wake. As he reached the byline, he was brought down by Saeed Baattia and the referee pointed to the spot.
Aleksandar Mitrovic has been deadly from that range of late and drilled a low shot into the bottom corner. The fans were treated to an increasingly familiar goal celebration. The Serbian striker is now second only to Cristiano Ronaldo in the goalscoring stakes and it is starting to look as if Al-Nassr, who host Al-Khaleej on Saturday, are the only team that have what it takes to stop the 18-time champions collecting another title.
Al-Dawsari continued to run at defenders and to ask questions. Mitrovic was also involved in the build-ups too, slipping the ball through for Malcom to see a shot blocked from close range.
Al-Fateh had seen plenty of the ball but had been mainly reduced to long range, hopeful efforts, but that changed just before the break. Cristian Tello slipped a smart ball through to the unmarked Abbas Al-Hassan on the right side of the area but his low shot was well-saved by Yassine Bounou in the Al-Hilal goal. Soon after both Malcom and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic came close to extending Al-Hilal’s lead.
The half ended amid some controversy. Ali Al-Bulaihi had already been booked and the Al-Hilal center-back took his time taking a free-kick before walking away as the referee approached. The official gave a yellow to goalkeeper Bounou amid fierce protests from the hosts and their coach Slaven Bilic who felt that Al-Bulaihi should have seen red.
Ten minutes after the restart Al-Fateh really should have pulled themselves level. Tello was freed through the middle but, with just the goalkeeper to beat, the Spanish star pulled his shot wide.The former Barcelona and Porto man pulled his shirt up to hide his face in the knowledge that his team could not afford to waste such opportunities.
Another came with almost 20 minutes left. Tawfiq Buhumaid danced into the left side of the area and drilled a low shot into the bottom corner, but Bounou got down well to make the save to maintain Al-Hilal’s lead.
Three minutes into added time Al-Dawsari sealed the win with a magnificent goal. He span around one defender just inside the area, skipped past two more to then fire home a low shot from the left. It was the perfect way to end another win for the champions who collected another three points to put the pressure on Al-Nassr.
