RIYADH: Friday was a night to forget for Ali Al-Bulayhi. Loaned out to Al-Shabab this winter after nine years at Al-Hilal, his first game against his parent club turned into a nightmare.
Saudi Pro League matchday 24 delivered one of the most entertaining Riyadh derbies of all time. While derby clashes with the other city rivals, Al-Nassr, perhaps create greater anticipation, Al-Hilal’s history with Al-Shabab also runs deep.
In the inaugural, 2008/09 Pro League season, Al-Shabab held Al-Hilal to a dramatic 1-1 draw, with both sides scoring in stoppage time. The result handed Al-Ittihad the edge in the title race, which they ultimately converted into the league crown. However, Al-Shabab thrashed Al-Hilal in the King’s Cup semi-finals that season en route to lifting the trophy.
The Saudi football landscape now looks very different; Al-Shabab have been flirting with relegation for much of this season, while last season’s Pro League runners-up Al-Hilal remain in the title race but have slipped into third after a poor run of form.
But form often counts for little in derby matches. Al-Shabab pushed title contenders Al-Nassr close in a what ended up as a narrow 3-2 loss in January, for example, before falling 5-2 to Al-Ahli a month later.
But for all Al-Shabab’s defensive frailties, the pairing of Yannick Carrasco and Abderrazzaq Hamedallah remains dangerous. It was little surprise, then, when Al-Shabab, playing at home, took the lead after 13 minutes. Al-Hilal’s defensive vulnerabilities were exposed when Carrasco and Saad Yaslam combined down the left in a move that allowed Josh Brownhill a free strike inside the box that he drilled past Yassine Bounou.
With Al-Hilal head coach Simone Inzaghi resting Malcom and Salem Al-Dawsari in favor of Saimon Bouabre and Sultan Mandash — and Karim Benzema out through injury — fans briefly began to believe this might be Al-Shabab’s night.
The momentum shifted quickly, however. In the 19th minute, Al-Bulayhi misjudged a header from a long throw and Mohammed Kanno pounced to volley home the equalizer past Marcelo Grohe.
There was more misfortune to come for the defender in the 31st minute when he inadvertently turned a cross from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, which appeared would be routine for Grohe, into his own net.
Al-Shabab responded to the disappointment just before the break when Carrasco released Hamedallah into the same channel Brownhill had exploited and the Moroccan forward turned past Kalidou Koulibaly before finishing to level the match.
Just as both of Al-Shabab’s goals had come from near-identical positions, Al-Hilal’s third arrived in equally chaotic fashion to their first two. Another long throw caused havoc in first-half stoppage time, and Koulibaly redeemed himself for the earlier defensive error by forcing the ball home after a poor goal-line clearance from, yes, that man Al-Bulayhi.
From that point, Al-Hilal took control of the game. Winter signing Sultan Mandash made his mark three minutes into the second half as he met a Kanno cross with a superb first-time “trivela” finish to make it 4-2. Four minutes later he turned provider, setting up Marcos Leonardo to add a composed fifth.
To their credit, Al-Shabab refused to fade away, and the 75th minute Yacine Adli’s driven cross evaded everyone and crept past Bounou to reduce the deficit to 5-3.
The visitors continued to push for an unlikely comeback but Al-Hilal held firm to secure victory, much to the relief of their supporters after dropping precious points with draws in their previous two matches.
Elsewhere, Al-Ittihad’s revival continued in what has been a turbulent campaign, with a 1-0 home win over Al-Khaleej that moved them into fifth place. Danilo Pereira scored the decisive goal, a tap-in from a Mahamadou Doumbia corner.
In Qassim, Al-Ettifaq traveled to face Al-Hazem as favorites and took the early lead through Koka. However, Abdulbasit Hindi handled the ball on the line of his own goal in the 17th minute — echoing Luis Suarez’s infamous intervention against Ghana at the 2010 FIFA World Cup — and was promptly sent off.
Yousef Al-Shammari converted the resulting penalty before Fabio Martins put Al-Hazem ahead just before the break with a stunning, long-range header that could be a contender for the Puskas Award. With less than 10 minutes to go, Martins provided the assist for Aboubacar Bah to add a third that rounded off a memorable victory.
On Saturday, Al-Fayha host Al-Nassr, Al-Najma face visiting Al-Okhdood in a bottom-of-the table battle, Al-Qadsiah are at home to Al-Taawoun, and Al-Kholood travel to NEOM.
