Without Benzema, Ittihad stroll to win on Asian return

The big question before the game was “will he or won’t he?” But ultimately, the more important outcome than learning whether or not Neymar would make his debut in Saudi Arabia on Friday evening was Al-Hilal thrashing Al-Riyadh 6-1 to return to the top of the Saudi Pro League, ahead of champions Al-Ittihad, in the most emphatic of styles.

It is a case of so far so good for the 18-time champions, who have 16 points from their first six games, one more than Al-Ittihad. This was a by-the-numbers win, certainly, but it was also a bit more than that. It was a perfect evening.

In the end, Neymar, who surpassed Pele’s goal-scoring record for Brazil during the international break as he reached a total of 79 goals for the five-time world champions, came off the bench to a rapturous reaction just after the hour mark. By then, the result was not in any real doubt but he had the fans on their feet and feeling very excited about the future.

His team-mates in blue had made the running against their newly promoted opposition, who had collected only four points from their first five games.

The breakthrough came after 27 minutes when Michael broke through to the right side of the area and was brought down by Mohammed Al-Shwirekh. The referee pointed to the spot and Aleksandar Mitrovic stepped up to fire home his fifth goal of the season.

Al-Riyadh gave as good as they got but could not find a way through the back line. Then Al-Hilal extended their lead just before the break. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic drove toward the left side of the area and slipped the ball through to Yasser Al-Shahrani. The left-back returned the favor and then was resupplied by the Serbian, before shooting home from close range.

From then on it was always going to be the case that Al-Riyadh would be making the short journey home across the capital empty-handed.

Soon after Neymar took to the pitch the lead increased to 3-0, as Nasser Al-Dawsari fired home from close range after Malcom was fouled in the area.

There were more goals to come, along with Neymar’s first major attacking contribution. With seven minutes remaining, the former Barcelona star slipped the ball to Malcom and his fellow Brazilian swept the ball into the net to make it 4-0.

With three minutes remaining, Al-Hilal were awarded a penalty. The fans made it clear that they wanted the new arrival to take it but, instead, it fell to Salem Al-Dawsari to make it five.

Five minutes into added time, Neymar fired a shot from outside the area, only for the goalkeeper to palm the ball out to Salem Al-Dawsari, who grabbed his second. Al-Hilal fans were in dreamland and not even a very late consolation goal from Ali Al-Zaqan could dampen the spirits of the home fans.

It meant the Blues maintained their unbeaten start to the season and returned to pole position above Al-Ittihad. The Jeddah giants suffered their first loss of the season, at the hands of Al-Hilal, before the international break, a dramatic 4-3 defeat, but bounced back to win 1-0 on Thursday at Al-Okhdood. Karim Benzema grabbed the only goal of a hard-fought game with 18 minutes remaining after Haroune Camara rolled the ball back from the left byline and it bounced fortuitously for the French striker, who clinched the three points from close range.

Also on Thursday, Al-Wehda’s promising start to the season continued with a 4-2 win over Damac, with Odion Ighalo bagging a hat-trick. On Friday, Al-Shabab picked up their first three points of the season with a 1-0 victory at Al-Fayha. Moroccan defender Romain Saiss got the only goal of the game.