Al-Hilal roared back to form on Tuesday, thrashing Al-Kholood 5-1 to send a message to table toppers Al-Ittihad, and the rest of the Saudi Pro League, that the title race is far from over.
A painful 4-1 loss on Saturday to the league leaders in the “Saudi El Clasico” left the Blues seven points adrift in second place, with just one win in five league games and something to prove. Now though, the gap is back to four (temporarily, at least; Al-Ittihad travel to Al-Khaleej on Wednesday) and with 12 games still to play, there is still a long way to go.
A real sense of determination was evident at the Kingdom Arena, where the hosts were two goals to the good within four minutes. The first was simply devastating: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic delivered a long pass from deep that found Salem Al-Dawsari outside the area, who chipped a clever ball over the defense for the onrushing Malcom to head home.
The visitors were reeling after just three minutes and fell further behind within a minute when Al-Dawsari fired home from close range after goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe could only parry a Marcos Leonardo header.
Al-Hilal made it 3-0 on the 20-minute mark. Milinkovic-Savic smartly headed a cross back into the path of Malcom in the area and the winger made no mistake in shooting past his Brazilian counterpart.
The onslaught continued and the next goal, eight minutes later, was made in Brazil. Kaio Cesar broke free down the right and curled the perfect cross over to the far post, where Leonardo climbed high to head down, just beyond the reach of the diving Grohe.
Al-Kholood had traveled to Riyadh in decent form, five wins from their previous eight games lifting them to mid-table respectability, but on this occasion they must have been happy just to reach half-time without conceding any more.
Ten minutes after the restart, however, Al-Dawsari grabbed his second of the game and his team’s fifth. It followed more great work from Kaio Cesar, who swapped passes with Joao Cancelo down the right and then pulled the ball back for the 2022 Asian Player of the Year to sweep home from close to the penalty spot.
Kholood did manage to get on the score sheet 10 minutes later, thanks to a powerful strike from Abdulrahman Al-Safari, but it was little consolation. By that time the game was well and truly won and Al-Hilal were already thinking of future challenges.
