Saudi Pro League 2025-26: Al Hilal extends lead after 3-1 comeback win against Al Nassr

Al Hilal took a big step towards regaining the Saudi Pro League title after beating rivals Al Nassr 3-1 in the Riyadh Derby on Monday.

Ruben Neves, Salem Al Dawsari and Mohamed Kanno got on the scoresheet for Al Hilal, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal for Al Nassr, who lost their third league match in a row.

The win took Al Hilal seven points clear at the top and now has 38 points from 14 games. Al Nassr remains second with 31 points in the same number of matches.

The match at the Kingdom Arena started lively with both teams making their attacking intentions clear. However, neither could create a clear scoring opportunity.

Hilal keeper Mohammed Al Yami had a nerve-wracking moment in the seventh minute when he almost played the ball into his own goal while trying to deal with a cross from Nawaf Boushal. In the 22nd minute he had another sloppy moment after letting Ronaldo’s long shot pass between his hands, but he was lucky that the effort was off target and the result was only a corner.

While Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic were Al Hilal’s best players, Kingsley Coman and Joao Felix looked threatening to Al Nassr with their combination play in the final third.

In fact, it was Felix and Coman who played a big role as Al Nassr took the lead in the 42nd minute. Felix sent a long ball to Coman in the Al Hilal area, which the Frenchman controlled with perfection. At full strength, he managed to direct the ball to Ronaldo, who hit the ball into the net.

The Kingdom Arena fell silent, save for a small group of fans in yellow, whose celebrations continued as the referee blew the half-time whistle.

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Al Hilal were never going to go down without a fight, and relentless attacks paid off in the 55th minute when Malcom was brought down in the box by Mohamed Simakan. The referee immediately pointed to the spot.

Salem Al Dawsari took the penalty and converted, sending Nawaf Alaqidi the wrong way. But what happened after Dawsari’s equalizer changed everything.

Neves wanted a quick restart and rushed towards the goal to pick up the ball. In an attempt to prevent that, Alaqidi collided with Neves and eventually beat the Portuguese. Alaqidi was initially shown a yellow card for a collision with Neves, but it changed to red after the referee went to the monitor to watch the replay and saw that Al Nassr’s custodian had punched Neves while preventing him from getting the ball.

This action by Alaqidi was an unnecessary red card in such a close match and seemed more foolish than his lobbed attempt to clear the ball in his last game against Al Qadsiah, which led to a goal.

With only 10 men left, Al Hilal finally got a strong run in the derby and took the lead in the 81st minute. Neves again showed his top class vision as he swung a cross into the box. Kanno, who had just come on the field five minutes ago, got to the ball and guided it into the net with a sublime finish.

Al Nassr boss Jorge Jesus opted to prioritize damage limitation and subbed off Ronaldo in the 84th minute, but the night turned from bad to worse for the yellow team after substitute Ali Alhassan brought down Al Dawsari in the penalty area to gift Al Hilal the second penalty of the evening.

Al Dawsari passed the ball to Neves, who sent young goalkeeper Mubarak Al Buaina the wrong way to seal the three points for his side.

Published on January 13, 2026