Al-Hilal moved three factors clear on the prime of the Saudi Professional League as first-half strikes from Mohamed Kanno and Salem Al Dawsari sealed a 2-0 win over Al-Ettifaq.
With Al-Nassr, who now have a sport in hand and are 4 factors adrift on the summit, not in motion till Saturday, Al-Hilal took benefit with relative ease.
Simone Inzaghi’s facet wanted simply 13 minutes to take the lead by way of Kanno, who, in opposition to his former membership, looped a high-quality header from Malcom’s nook into the again of the web.
It obtained even higher for the hosts quickly after when Malcolm’s cross was spilled by visiting goalkeeper Marek Rodak, with Al Dawsari available to prod residence within the thirty first minute.
Kalidou Koulibaly got here near placing the sport past doubt eight minutes after the restart, however his headed effort was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Rodak’s fingertips.
Al-Hilal continued to push for extra and had the ball at the back of the web when Kanno curled in from distance, however the purpose was chalked off for offside after a VAR evaluation.
Karim Benzema, contemporary from his hat-trick on debut, ought to have sealed the win with 10 minutes remaining, however he uncharacteristically scuffed Malcolm’s centre huge of the mark.
One other factors within the bag
Congratulations Blues pic.twitter.com/aaJ9BYckh6
— AlHilal Saudi Membership (@Alhilal_EN) February 13, 2026
Information Debrief: Al Dawsari is Al-Hilal’s captain unbelievable
After drawing three consecutive league video games, Al-Hilal have since scored eight targets of their final two top-flight encounters, and their sixteenth win of the season was led by their captain, Al Dawsari.
Certainly, Al Dawsari has now scored seven league targets in opposition to Al‑Ettifaq, with no Al‑Hilal participant scoring extra in opposition to them within the competitors. He additionally completed the sport with team-high totals for passes within the remaining third (30) and profitable dribbles (5).
And following their win within the reverse fixture, Al-Hilal accomplished a league double over their opponents for the tenth time, greater than another crew has managed in opposition to them within the Professional League.
Al-Hilal had been greater than worthy winners right here, too. They completed the match with an anticipated targets (xG) complete of two.7 from their 17 photographs, eight of which had been on track, in comparison with Al-Ettifaq’s 0.69 from their 10 makes an attempt at Yassine Bounou’s internet.
