Riyadh (AFP)
Al Hilal is now only four points away from clinching the Saudi Football League title, by defeating its host Al Taawoun 3-0, led by its top scorer, Serbian Alexander Mitrovic, who returned from injury.
Al-Hilal entered the thirtieth stage, leading the standings with 80 points, with a postponed match against Al-Ahly, nine ahead of Al-Nasr II, which played a match more, which means that it needed seven points from its remaining matches to officially settle the title.
With its twenty-second consecutive victory in the league, which was achieved in a match during which Mitrovic scored the first goal in his second match, after returning from an injury that kept him out of the field for several weeks, Al-Hilal now needs four points from its remaining matches against Al-Ahly, Al-Hazm, Al-Nasr, Al-Taei and Al-Wahda. To win the title, regardless of the results of the victory.
With the exception of the Asian exit from the semi-finals of the Champions League, at the hands of Al Ain of the Emirates, Al Hilal, under the leadership of its Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, is presenting its best levels in the league, where it won 27 times and tied twice, without knowing the taste of defeat, with the best offensive (89) and defensive (18) performances. ) in the league.
Jesus’ men also reached the final of the local cup competition, where they face Al-Nasr, which concludes the 30th round of the league on Saturday against Al-Wahda.
After the match, Jesus touched on his future with Al Hilal, saying, “My contract with Al Hilal ends at the end of the current season, and I do not know what they say about renewing the contract, but the focus at the present time is on the league championship and the King’s Cup.”
Regarding his team’s performance in the match on Friday, he said, “We knew that the match against Al-Taawoun would definitely be difficult. It is a strong competitor and is in the leading positions, looking for an Asian seat,” adding, “What increased the difficulty of the match is that Al-Hilal played a match two days ago (Tuesday). Strong against Al-Ittihad in the King’s Cup (won 2-1 with ten players).”
Al Hilal started its match with Al Taawoun with great pressure and had several opportunities to open the scoring, but it waited until the 40th minute for Mitrovic to put them ahead with his twenty-third goal in the league this season, which came with a header after a cross pass from Brazilian Michael Delgado.
Brazilian Malcom missed a goal in the final minutes of the first half after a pass from Delgado, which he met with a shot that passed past the goal.
Al Hilal pressed in the second half in search of strengthening the score, and they achieved this in the 70th minute thanks to Saud Abdul Hamid after a wonderful pass from Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
The result remained the same until the seventh minute of stoppage time, when substitute Saleh Al-Shehri was able to score the third goal with a precise back-heel shot, confirming Al-Taawoun’s seventh defeat this season, so its score froze at 51 points in fifth place.
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