Al-Hilal edge 5-goal thriller against Damac to lead league table

Aleksandar Mitrovic’s two goals helped Al-Hilal to a 3-2 win over Damac on Wednesday night. (X: @Alhilal_EN)
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Updated 29 August 2024
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Al-Hilal edge 5-goal thriller against Damac to lead league table

  • Moussa Dembele winner maintains maximum for Al-Ettifaq after 1-0 win over Al-Okhdood

RIYADH: Al-Hilal maintained their 100 percent start to the season with a 3-2 win over Damac at Kingdom Arena on Wednesday night, and now top the Saudi Pro League table with three matches of the second round still to be completed on Thursday night.

With Senegal forward Habib Diallo a constant threat, Damac had several chances to go ahead as the first half progressed. But it was Aleksandar Mitrovic who opened the scoring for the champions in the fifth minute of stoppage time, heading home from Mohammed Al-Qahtani’s deflected cross.

However, Damac stunned Jorge Jesus’ men with two quick-fire goals at the start of the second half to take an unlikely lead. Guinea forward Francois Kamano equalized four minutes after the break with a looped shot that sailed over Yassine Bounou into the net.

And only four minutes later the visitors went ahead through Diallo’s close-range finish. Both goals were set up by Ramzi Solan.

Saudi Arabia international midfielder Musab Al-Juwayr leveled the score on 73 minutes with a firmly-struck volley from inside the penalty area after Damac goalkeeper Florin Nita failed to clear substitute Yasser Al-Shahrani’s corner.

The equalizer set up a grandstand finish, and it was no surprise when Mitrovic completed Al-Hilal’s comeback with his second of the match on 84 minutes.

The Serbian forward finished smartly from close range after Renan Lodi’s cross was deflected into his path by Al-Juwayr’s inadvertent touch. Despite a nervous VAR check, the officials confirmed Mitrovic’s fourth SPL goal of the season.

In the first match of the day, Al-Ettifaq claimed their second 1-0 win of the season, overcoming Al-Okhdood at home thanks to Moussa Dembele’s 63rd minute strike.

With Steven Gerrard’s team yet to concede a goal this season, they joined Al-Hilal and Al-Qadsiah as the only teams so far with six points out of six at the top of the table.

Meanwhile, Al-Wehda defeated promoted Al-Orobah 2-1 with a 93rd minute goal by Murad Khadhari at King Abdulaziz Sport City Stadium.

The home team had taken the lead through former Al-Hilal forward Odion Ighalo in the first minute, but Ziad Al-Hunaito replied for Al-Orobah just after the hour as teams went in at half-time all-square.

It looked like the points would be shared until the late intervention by Khadhari, who had scored in Al-Wehda’s season-opening 3-3 draw against Al-Riyadh last week.


Kane scores as Bayern deliver comeback romp over Leipzig

Updated 17 January 2026
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Kane scores as Bayern deliver comeback romp over Leipzig

  • The victory restores Bayern’s 11-point lead atop the ladder over second-placed Borussia Dortmund
  • Leipzig took a first-half lead through Romulo, but Bayern kicked into gear after the break

LEIPZIG, Germany: Harry Kane scored his 21st goal of the Bundesliga season as Bayern Munich came from behind to win 5-1 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.
The victory restores Bayern’s 11-point lead atop the ladder over second-placed Borussia Dortmund, while continuing their record-breaking campaign.
Unbeaten Bayern have dropped just four points on their way to a record-equalling tally of 50 after 18 games. Bayern’s total of 71 goals scored is also a record at this stage of a German league season.
Leipzig took a first-half lead through Romulo, but Bayern kicked into gear after the break, Serge Gnabry, Kane, Jonathan Tah, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Michael Olize all scoring.
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said Leipzig were “twice as good as we were” in the opening half, adding “but in the second-half — my god, the boys delivered.
“We weren’t afraid and we really went for it.”
Leipzig goalscorer Romulo said “we played 75 minutes really on top, then I don’t know what happened, we turned off our minds. We have to learn something out of that.”
Leipzig were strong early and broke through after 20 minutes when Romulo snuck past Bayern’s Tah to poke in an Antonio Nusa pass from close range.
The hosts were undone in the simplest fashion just after half-time. Dayot Upamecano picked Christoph Baumgartner’s pocket and fed Gnabry, who guided the ball into the bottom corner.
Bayern took the lead after 67 minutes, once again thanks to a Leipzig mistake.
Olize’s floated cross looked harmless until Ridle Baku lost his footing, allowing an unmarked Kane time and space to blast home.
With Leipzig’s resistance broken, Tah, Pavlovic and Olize all scored in the final 10 minutes, while Jamal Musiala returned late off the bench after a six-month injury absence.

- Can rescues Dortmund -
Earlier, an Emre Can penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time saved Borussia Dortmund’s blushes in a 3-2 home win against lowly St. Pauli.
In the dying moments, VAR found a foul on Germany forward Maximilian Beier, bringing Dortmund captain Can to the spot.
“What a rollercoaster ride,” Can told Sky Germany.
“We need to do much better to settle things down and to convert our chances,” he added.
The hosts overcame a poor first half when Julian Brandt tapped in from close range just before the break. Having created the opener, Karim Adeyemi gave Dortmund a two-goal buffer in the 54th minute, converting a Fabio Silva assist.
Rock-bottom St. Pauli had won just once since September but fought back into the game when James Sands and Ricky-Jade Jones scored inside 10 minutes midway through the second half to stun the hosts.
Deep into stoppage time, Jones caught Beier on the edge of the penalty area, allowing Can to convert nervelessly from the spot.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim’s Wouter Burger scored the only goal in a 1-0 home win over flailing Bayer Leverkusen to climb past Leipzig into third in the table.
Burger swung in an excellent free-kick after nine minutes to give the hosts the three points.
“That was an important one,” Burger said of his free-kick. “I was practicing them a bit this morning.”
Relegation candidates last season, Hoffenheim are on track to qualify for Europe’s top competition for just the second time in their history, having last done so under now-Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann in 2017/18.
Leverkusen have now lost four of their past six, falling three points behind the Champions League placings.
Cologne beat Mainz 2-1 at home, Wolfsburg played out a 1-1 home draw with Heidenheim and hosts Hamburg were held to a scoreless draw by Borussia Moenchengladbach.