Al-Hilal opened their Saudi Pro League campaign in style on Friday night, holding off a spirited second-half comeback from newly promoted Al-Faisaly to win 4-2 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Karim Benzema set the tone inside 19 minutes, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot for his first goal of the new season. Malcolm doubled the lead seven minutes later with a well-worked finish from a set piece, and by the half-hour mark Al-Hilal were 3-0 up after Rúben Neves converted a second penalty of the night in the 28th minute.
It was a dominant opening 45 minutes that left Al-Faisaly, playing their first-ever Saudi Pro League fixture after winning promotion from the second tier, chasing shadows.
The visitors, however, refused to fold. Alexandre Mendy pulled a goal back on 59 minutes with a well-taken finish, and five minutes later Théo Bongonda headed in from close range to make it 3-2 and give Al-Faisaly genuine hope of an extraordinary opening-day upset.
Al-Hilal steadied themselves and put the contest to bed in the 82nd minute, when Neves stepped up for his second penalty of the match — and the third awarded to Al-Hilal on the night — to restore the two-goal cushion and seal a 4-2 win.
ONE reported that the result sent an early message to defending champions Al-Nassr, with Al-Hilal having finished runners-up in the Saudi Pro League in each of the last two seasons after losing out to their Riyadh rivals on the final day last term.
The win came under head coach Simone Inzaghi, who has said he wants Al-Hilal to play a more attacking brand of football this season. The Italian left Portuguese defender João Cancelo out of his squad for the opener because of fitness doubts, while forward Darwin Núñez and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou were among the other big names involved as the club begins life without a title for a third straight year.
For Al-Faisaly, the afternoon offered both a reminder of the gulf in class at the top of Saudi football and evidence that the promoted side can trouble even the country's biggest spenders — Mendy and Bongonda both found the net against one of the most expensively assembled squads in the league.
Benzema's penalty was his first goal since moving to Al-Hilal from local rivals Al-Ittihad in February, a switch that followed a breakdown in contract talks at his previous club. The 38-year-old former Real Madrid and France striker will be looking to build on the opening-day goal as Al-Hilal chase a return to the Saudi Pro League summit.
