‘I want to score goals all the time,’ says Al-Hilal’s Aleksandar Mitrovic

RIYADH: Al-Hilal’s deadly striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is out to bring down Al-Nassr in the Roshn Saudi League’s first Riyadh derby of the season on Friday. 

Mitrovic has scored 11 goals in 12 games since signing from Fulham in the summer — and was recently dubbed “merciless” by Al-Hilal manager Jorge Jesus.

Only Al-Nassr superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is ahead of the Serbian striker in the Saudi top flight’s scoring tables, with 15 goals in 13 league games to date during this campaign.

Al-Hilal will go into Friday night’s derby at the King Fahd International Stadium four points ahead of their Riyadh rivals. However, “merciless Mitrovic” has vowed to keep on the goal-hunting trail. 

“I want to score goals all the time and I’ve been lucky to score a lot of goals so far,” he said. “Hopefully there are more to come. It’s my job to score goals. It’s what I do and what I love to do.

“Scoring a goal is something every striker dreams of and every striker wants that feeling, that adrenaline of scoring game by game,” Mitrovic added. “The more you score, the better you feel, and I have scored a lot — I could have scored more, though. It can always be better. There are still a lot of games to play, and big games, such as the derby, so hopefully that’ll include a lot of goals.”

The powerful No. 9 has netted 18 goals in 19 games for Al-Hilal across all competitions this season — the exact same tally as Al-Nassr rival Ronaldo. Mitrovic’s phenomenal scoring record includes two hat-tricks — his memorable Roshn Saudi League treble in the 4-3 triumph over Karim Benzema’s Al-Ittihad, and in the 6-0 win against Mumbai City in the AFC Champions League.

Each goal has been greeted with deafening chants of “Mitro’s on fire,” to the tune of