Al Hilal grab top spot after Clasico triumph | OneFootball

Aleksandar Mitrovic continued his red-hot start to the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League with a brace at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City to guide Al Hilal to an emphatic 3-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the Saudi Clasico.

The top-of-the-table clash got off to a flying start when N’Golo Kante fed Moussa Diaby with a long pass behind the Al Hilal defence, and the former Aston Villa winger slotted home inside 23 seconds, only for his goal to be overturned for offside.

Instead, it was at the other end of the pitch that the first goal of the night arrived. On three minutes, Malcom advanced down the right and set up Ruben Neves, who whipped an inviting cross into the Al Ittihad penalty area and Mitrovic obliged, heading home past international teammate Predrag Rajkovic for Al Hilal’s opener.

Rajkovic needed to be at his best when called upon twice more inside the opening quarter of an hour, first using his feet to deny Joao Cancelo from a tight angle, then minutes later producing a flying save to push away a curled free-kick from his other compatriot Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

There was, however, nothing the Serbian goalkeeper could do to prevent Mitrovic to slot home from 12 yards when Renan Lodi was brought down inside the Al Ittihad box by Abdulelah Al Amri. The former Fulham forward kept his composure to extend his incredible streak of scoring a double in every game through four match weeks this season, taking his tally to eight goals at the top of the 2024-25 RSL scoring charts.

As Al Ittihad piled up the pressure in chase of reducing the deficit, Yassine Bono did wonderfully to deny Karim Benzema with a fine diving save, minutes before the game was put to bed thanks to Al Hilal captain Salem Al Dawsari.

Neves picked up the ball deep inside his half and showed his extraordinary vision by sending a long ball into the path of Al Dawsari. The winger embarked on a 50-yard run from the left before producing a confident dinked finish past Rajkovic for Al Hilal's third.

The visitors’ efforts to get back into the match came to fruition only when it was too little too late. With two minutes remaining, Substitute Saleh Al Shehri sent Diaby through on goal and the winger selflessly squared for Benzema, leaving Bono in no man’s land. The Al Ittihad captain, who struck a hat-trick in Matchweek 3, was left with the simplest of tasks to pass the ball into the empty net for his fifth goal of the campaign.

Just like in 2023-24, Al Hilal’s early Clasico win ended Al Ittihad’s unbeaten record and sent Jorge Jesus’ side clear at the top of the table.