Al-Hilal Recover From Early Scare to Secure Win With Milinkovic-Savic Scoring a Brace Against Al-Shabab
Al-Hilal suffered an early scare in their contest against Al-Shabab on Saturday night, with Abderrazak Hamdallah putting the hosts ahead in the 6th minute. However, the defending champions showed their mettle and came from behind to win the match 2-1.
Al-Hilal went into their match against Al-Shabab on the heels of the end of their 46-match unbeaten run. The defending champions seemed rattled and hosts Al-Shabab took advantage to go ahead with only six minutes on the clock. A fast counterattack saw Hamdallah head a cross and make it a possibility of Al-Hilal losing two matches in a row after staying undefeated for nearly two years.
Al-Hilal, like the champions they are, shook off the early scare and bagged an equalizer through a Sergej Milinković-Savić header after great work by João Cancelo who delivered a pinpoint cross.
Before the first half ended, Hamdallah would once again put the ball in the net, but this time, VAR was there to deny him a brace. Hamdallah was once again the center of attention when he went one-on-one with Kalidou Koulibaly and was fouled, leading to a Koulibaly red card.
Ten-man Al-Hilal came into the second half determined to seal the game and were aided by a Nader Al-Sharari red card in the 58th minute that saw both teams playing with ten men. Milinković-Savić stepped up to take the resulting freekick and curled it over the wall to make it 2-1.
Late in the game, Milinković-Savić came close to sealing a hattrick on several occasions, but the game ended at 1-2. The win, while shaky, was enough to secure three points and provide the much-needed confidence boost ahead of the next match against Al-Nassr. Cristiano Ronaldo-led Al-Nassr will be keen to win the match and shorten the gap between them and Al-Hilal in the standings.
