Al-Hilal Edge Al-Qadsiah 3-2 as Martinelli, Neves and Milinkovic-Savic Strike to Go Top

Al-Hilal hold on to seize summit

Al-Hilal climbed to the top of the Saudi Pro League on Friday with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Al-Qadsiah at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Stadium, surviving a tense finish after Mateo Retegui pulled a goal back late on.

Gabriel Martinelli, Ruben Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic were all on the scoresheet for the visitors, who led for much of the contest before being forced to defend their advantage in the closing stages.

Martinelli opens, Quinones answers

Al-Hilal broke the deadlock after 21 minutes when Ollie Watkins raced onto a long ball from midfield and squared for Martinelli, whose shot with the outside of his right boot deflected past Koen Casteels.

The hosts restored parity just after the half-hour mark through Julian Quinones, who headed Musab Al Juwayr's lofted pass into the bottom-left corner, leaving Yassine Bounou with no chance of saving it.

Neves and Milinkovic-Savic decide it

Watkins and Crysencio Summerville both tested Casteels after the break, but it was Neves who scored the go-ahead goal in the 77th minute, curling a finish from outside the box after being teed up by Milinkovic-Savic.

Milinkovic-Savic then turned provider into scorer seven minutes later, firing in from Sultan Mandash's cut-back to make it 3-1. That proved decisive, rendering Retegui's glancing header from Tijjani Reijnders' free-kick a consolation as the visitors held on.

Dominance beyond the scoreline

Earlier on Friday, Al-Nassr placed pressure on both Al-Hilal and Al-Qadsiah after defeating Al-Faysaly, but the visitors took their opportunity to go top of the pack — and did so with more command than the scoreline suggested.

Al-Hilal accumulated 2.84 expected goals (xG) from 19 shots to Al-Qadsiah's 0.68 from 14 attempts. Martinelli and Theo Hernandez (both four) led the way in shots, while Watkins recorded the most xG (1.09).

Milinkovic-Savic created the most chances for Al-Hilal (five), Watkins completed 100% of his passes (19/19) while creating three chances, and Summerville won eight of his 12 duels as Al-Hilal worked hard for their win.

Al-Qadsiah's warning signs

Al-Qadsiah's forward duo of Quinones and Retegui both got on the scoresheet, with the latter scoring the second-most goals in the league this season (seven). But manager Brendan Rodgers will know his side must perform better against their title competitors if they are to win the league.