No Neymar, but Al-Hilal stroll to summit of Roshn Saudi League

RIYADH: Neymar may have headed home to Brazil after the birth of his daughter, but the megastar was barely missed as Al-Hilal went top of the Roshn Saudi League with a 3-0 win at Al-Okhdood on Saturday and will stay at the summit over the international break.

After nine games of the season, Jorge Jesus’s men are still unbeaten with 23 points, one above the impressive Al-Taawoun in second. Then there are three teams on 19: Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, who won the Jeddah derby on Friday.

Seeing champions Al-Ittihad lose must have galvanized Al-Hilal, who returned from Iran on Wednesday morning after an impressive win against Nassaji Mazandaran, during which Neymar scored his first goal for the club.

Even without the former Barcelona man, the opening goal had a strong Brazilian flavor. Malcom slipped the ball through a crowded area to find Michael on the right side and he shot across the goalkeeper to find the opposite corner. It was a finish that Cristiano Ronaldo would have been proud of, and the celebration was very reminiscent of the Al-Nassr forward, the league’s leading goalscorer.

After a slow start to the season, Al-Okhdood had won two of the previous four in the league and had chances, but were always going to find it difficult against the 18-time champions. It got worse just before the break as the hosts were reduced to 10 men. At the start of added time, Saeed Al-Rubaie picked up a yellow card. By the time the first half ended, he had managed to collect a second for a rash and unnecessary challenge on Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and was off.

The second half was looking like a comfortable one for the Blues and it started perfectly. Ruben Neves sent over a cross from the right for Aleksandar Mitrovic to head