Al-Hilal’s Perfect Start Shattered by NEOM

Al-Hilal arrived looking untouchable. Five wins on the spin, top of the Roshn League, and a squad brimming with confidence. Then the first punch landed before a ball was even kicked.

Yassine Bounou pulled up injured in the warm-up, forcing Simone Inzaghi to rip up his plan and throw Mohammed Al-Owais into goal at the last minute. The mood shifted. So did the match.

NEOM slam the door shut

From the opening whistle, Al-Hilal looked a step off it. NEOM did not. Compact, disciplined, and aggressive without the ball, the hosts strangled the space where Al-Hilal usually breathe.

Every time a blue shirt drifted between the lines, a NEOM defender was already there. Passing lanes vanished. The rhythm that usually defines the league leaders never appeared.

On 15 minutes, the pressure told in the harshest way. Kalidou Koulibaly, under pressure, diverted the ball into his own net and handed NEOM a shock lead. One mistake, and Al-Hilal’s evening suddenly looked very long.

The response was immediate but blunt. Al-Hilal pushed up, but ran into that same organised wall. With the central channels blocked, they were forced into low-percentage efforts from distance. Sultan Al-Ghannam tried. Krisencio Summerville tried. Nothing truly worried the NEOM goal.

Inzaghi rolls the dice

After the break, Inzaghi went for it. Nasser Al-Dawsari, Sultan Mandash and Mohamed Kader Mete all came on as he reshaped his attack and chased a way back into the game.

The openings finally appeared.

On 50 minutes, Gabriel Martinelli found himself clean through on goal, the chance Al-Hilal had been waiting for. He hesitated, misjudged, and the moment slipped away. Three minutes later, Ruben Neves bent a trademark effort inches wide of the left post. The equaliser felt close, but still refused to arrive.

Then the game met its defining figure.

Bulka slams it shut

On 65 minutes, Ollie Watkins rose inside the box and powered a header towards the corner. It looked destined to drag Al-Hilal back into the contest. Marcin Bulka had other ideas.

The NEOM goalkeeper launched himself across his line and clawed the ball away with a superb save that cut through the noise and belief in one motion. It was not an isolated moment. Bulka had already turned away several Al-Hilal efforts in the half, each stop tightening NEOM’s grip on the night.

From there, the pattern hardened. NEOM slowed the tempo, managed the spaces, and ran the clock with the assurance of a side that knew exactly what was at stake. Al-Hilal pushed, but the door stayed locked.

When the final whistle went, NEOM had their prize: a 2–0 win, their fourth victory of the Roshn League season, and a jump to 12 points.

A crack in the champions’ armour

For Al-Hilal, the damage goes far beyond a single defeat. They remain on 15 points, still top, but this was their first Roshn League loss of the campaign and their first domestic defeat since Inzaghi took charge at the start of last season.

The aura of invincibility took a hit. The perfect start is gone. The margin for error has shrunk.

And somewhere in Riyadh, Al-Nassr will have watched it all with interest. They began the round on 12 points and now know that a win over Abha on Wednesday would slice the gap at the top to just one point.

The chase is on.