Serbian powered Al Hilal beat Al Ahli in yet another Saudi derby

The world may be buzzing about Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League, swooning after each of his goals, but doing their share of bossing around in the multimillionaire league of Saudi Arabia are - Aleksandar Mitrović and Sergej Milinković-Savić.

A new round, a new derby and a new great game of the Serbian duo, who keep Al-Hilal at the top of the table, without a single defeat.

Al Ahli, with its flock of expensive stars, came to mess up the leaders' plan, but found itself on its knees as soon as the game started. As the TV commentators would often say, the crowd hadn't even taken their seats yet, and the boys in blue shirts took a 1-0 lead.

It was the 45th second when Kalidou Koulibaly sent a long ball behind Al Ahli's defense where Sergej Milinković-Savic was, with a sense of space and time as if he learned in Serie A from Fillipo Inzaghi himself. Realization was the simpler part of the job for the Serbian midfielder.

Then another Serbian - Aleksandar Mitrović - came to the fore. At first - it was not good - Al-Hilal won the penalty, and Mitrogol took responsibility but didn't shoot well, Mendy 'read' him and saved Mitrovic's shot.

It turned out once again that it is easier for Mitrović to score a header from 11 meters than from the penalty spot. Towards the end of the half, a cross flew towards him, and he was right where the white dot is, jumped and headed the ball where Mendy couldn't reach. It is the eighth goal of the Serbian striker in the league of Saudi Arabia - the former Fulham forward holds the second place in the list of scorers, behind Ronaldo.

Al Ahli had periods of better play in the second half, when they managed to reduce the deficit through Saint-Maximin after a confusion in the home team's penalty area. But the boys in white managed towards the end, when a total offensive from the guests was expected, to shoot themselves in the foot. Ibáñez and goalkeeper Mendy did not understand each other and the stopper headed the ball back into his own goal.

SAUDI PRO LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 11

Thursday

Damac - Al Akhdoud 2-0 (0-0)

/Al Zain 48, N'Koudou 69/

Al Khaleej - Al Taawon 1-1 (1-1)

/Lopez 35 - Pedro 37/

Al Ittihad - Al Hazem 2-2 (1-0)

/Benzema 26, Kadesh 81 - Al Thani 63, Selemani 86/

Friday

Al Taee - Al Riyadh 3-2 (3-1)

/Dugandzic 28, Semedo 40, Shamlan 45+2 - Al Abbas 8, Toure 90+2 pen/

Al Raed - Al Fateh 1-2 (0-2)

/El Berkaoui 69 pen - Buhumaid 29, Tello 45+3/

Al Hilal - Al Ahli SC 3-1 (2-0)

/Milinkovic-Savic 1, Mitrovic 37, Ibanez 84 og - Saint-Maximin 58/

Saturday

18:00: (5.10) Abha (3.70) Al Shabab R. (1.70)

18:00: (7.75) Al Faiha (5.20) Al Nassr R. (1.37)

21:00: (2.10) Al Wahda (3.50) Al Ettifaq (3.40)

***odds are subject to change***