Al-Hilal's Perfect Start Shattered by NEOM's Resilience
Al-Hilal’s perfect start to the Roshn League season was ripped up in a night that went wrong before a ball was even kicked.
Bounou blow sets the tone
Five wins on the spin, confidence high, leaders cruising. Then Yassine Bounou pulled up injured in the warm-up. Simone Inzaghi had no choice: Mohammed Al-Owais was thrown in at the last moment.
From there, Al-Hilal never quite found their rhythm.
NEOM smelled vulnerability and closed in. Compact, disciplined, they strangled the space in front of Al-Hilal’s front line, turning every attempted combination into a dead end. The Blues’ usual fluency vanished into a wall of bodies and sharp positioning.
Koulibaly’s nightmare moment
The first real crack came early.
On 15 minutes, Kalidou Koulibaly turned the ball into his own net, gifting NEOM the lead and shaking Al-Hilal’s game plan to its core. One touch, one mistake, and the leaders were chasing.
The response was more huff than incision. Al-Hilal pushed, but most of their shots came from distance, hopeful rather than clinical. Sultan Al-Ghannam tried to drive them forward, Krisencio Summerville searched for gaps, yet NEOM’s block barely flinched. The home side absorbed pressure and waited for their moments.
Inzaghi rolls the dice
After the break, Inzaghi moved aggressively. Nasser Al-Dawsari, Sultan Mandash and Mohamed Kader Mete all came on as the Italian coach tried to inject pace, chaos, anything to unsettle NEOM’s control.
The chances finally arrived.
Gabriel Martinelli had the big one on 50 minutes. Clean through, one-on-one with the NEOM keeper, he had the equaliser at his feet. He squandered it. A huge let-off for the hosts.
Three minutes later, Ruben Neves curled a left-footed effort inches wide of the post. The goal felt close, the pressure rising.
Then the game met its defining figure.
Bulka slams the door shut
On 65 minutes, Ollie Watkins met a cross inside the box with a firm header that looked destined for the corner. Marcin Bulka exploded across his line and clawed it away, a stunning save that ripped the air out of Al-Hilal’s comeback push.
It wasn’t a one-off. Bulka had already beaten away other Al-Hilal efforts, and he continued to stand tall as the visitors threw men forward. Each stop deepened NEOM’s belief and drained the league leaders.
With their goalkeeper in command and the back line in sync, NEOM tightened their grip. They slowed the tempo, broke up play, and bled the clock dry. When the final whistle went, the scoreboard told the story: a controlled, hard-earned 2–0 win.
Title race jolted awake
The defeat leaves Al-Hilal stuck on 15 points, their first Roshn League loss of the season snapping a run of five straight victories. More than that, it marked their first domestic defeat since Simone Inzaghi took charge at the start of last season. The aura of invincibility took a hit.
NEOM, meanwhile, climbed to 12 points with their fourth win of the campaign, announcing themselves as far more than just stubborn spoilers.
And somewhere in Riyadh, Al-Nassr will have watched it all with interest. They sit on 12 points heading into their clash with Abha on Wednesday, knowing a win cuts Al-Hilal’s lead to a single point.
The champions-elect tag suddenly looks a little heavier on Al-Hilal’s shoulders.
