Al-Hilal will aim to make a swift return to winning ways in their Saudi Pro League title defence on Friday, having fallen two points behind the new leaders at the weekend.
After winning the league unbeaten last season, amassing 96 points from 34 games to lift the trophy for the 19th time, Jorge Jesus’s side began their defence in similarly dominant fashion, moving onto 43 points from 16 outings with five straight wins around the turn of the year, culminating in 9-0 and 4-1 beatings of Al Fateh and Al Wehda respectively in January.
The Blue Waves have since dropped points for just the third and fourth times of the campaign in their last three outings, though, firstly suffering a 2-1 defeat away at Al Quadisiya as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang snatched all three points for the hosts with an injury-time winner, before Jesus’s men bounced back with a 4-0 triumph over Al Okhdood thanks to goals from Kaio Cesar and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and a Marcos Leonardo brace.
Then on the back of a 4-1 win over Persepolis to remain top of their AFC Champions League group, the Riyadh giants most recently visited Damac on Saturday, and after leading through Leonardo and falling behind to a Habib Diallo brace, they were able to leave with a point as Milinkovic-Savic levelled 13 minutes from time.
Having dropped to second spot as a result of their slight dip, but still only trailing Al-Ittihad by two points with a stronger goal difference, having netted a league-high tally
#alhilal #alriyadh #ksaleague #sportsmaestro