As if never been away - Mitrovic returns, scores, boosts Al Hilal title bid | OneFootball

Aleksandar Mitrovic needed less than half an hour to remind everyone what they had been missing.

The Serbian, prolific ever since joining Al Hilal in the summer of 2023, had been sidelined through injury from early January.

His most recent Roshn Saudi League appearance went back even further, almost three months to the day, when the league paused for its winter break with Mitrovic leading the 2024-25 scoring charts.

However, a hamstring injury required more time than initially expected. So, Mitrovic’s return as a second-half substitute in Al Hilal’s trip to Al Fayha on Friday night was a welcome one, indeed.

Not only for the striker himself, but for an Al Hilal side that have been struggling of late. Still, they were 1-0 up in Buraidah when Mitrovic was introduced on 63 minutes.

By the conclusion of the contest, though, the RSL champions had doubled their advantage. The identity of the scorer? Well, who do you think?

“Thank God. Thank God I'm back,” a visibly relieved Mitrovic said after helping second-placed Al Hilal to a victory that dragged them back to within four points of the summit.

“It's been a tough few months for me. We had some small, I can say problems, that kept me a little bit longer out of the pitch. But hopefully now I'm back, I'm going to stay injury free.

“That's the most important thing. And I'm glad to be back to help my team perform well. It was a big game for us today and all the team performed really well. Clean sheet and scored two goals; to be honest, we deserved to win today.”

The victory was as welcome as Mitrovic’s comeback. Al Hilal had hit a slump, losing three of their previous four matches across all competitions. Two of those defeats came in the RSL for a team who, last term, went unbeaten on their way to sealing a record-breaking title.

“It's important,” Mitrovic said. “Three points for the team, especially after the bad results in the previous games. Today was the more about results, not performance or nothing, just to get positive results. Especially because we had tough few games when we didn't get the results we want.

“And you have to know we are the champions. We are the champions; still champions who want to win everything, still competing for trophies.

“And we had a lot of problems this year with the injuries. Sometimes we've been unlucky, but we are coming back. We are ready. And Inshallah, we continue this.”

You can rest assured, Mitrovic will be motivated to continue to contribute. The goal at Fayha represented his 13th of the RSL campaign, from 14 appearances, while his overall record in the competition now reads a remarkable 41 goals in 42 matches.

And, with leader leaders Al Ittihad reeled back in to four points after Matchweek 24, having Mitrovic back at their tip burnishes Al Hilal with additional ballast.

“I'm ready,” he declared. “Still not 100 percent, but I'm ready and I will need maybe one, two games again to get my fitness back. But the most important thing, I'm back on the pitch.”