Al-Hilal's Defensive Chaos Leads to Neom Victory
Al-Hilal’s perfect start to the Roshn League season was ripped apart before a ball was even kicked.
During the warm-up, Yassine Bounou suddenly pulled up injured. One moment the Moroccan was going through his routines, the next he was out, and Simone Inzaghi was forced into a decision no coach wants minutes before kick-off. Mohammed Al-Owais was rushed in, gloves on, mindset unprepared.
From there, everything unraveled.
From shock to disarray
Al-Hilal never settled. The early rhythm was off, the back line jittery, and Neom sensed it immediately. The visitors pressed high, hunted in packs, and dragged the hosts into a first-half storm they never truly escaped.
Al-Owais struggled. The communication with his defence faltered, clearances lacked conviction, and every Neom attack seemed to stretch Al-Hilal’s shape a little further out of place. The confidence that had carried Inzaghi’s men through five straight league wins evaporated under the floodlights.
Koulibaly’s own goal deepens the wound
The pressure told inside a quarter of an hour.
In the 15th minute, Kalidou Koulibaly, usually the pillar of calm at the back, turned into the source of disaster. Attempting to deal with a cross, the Senegalese defender headed the ball into his own net, handing Neom a precious early lead and piling even more weight on Al-Owais’ shoulders.
The timing could not have been worse. Al-Hilal were still processing the loss of Bounou when Koulibaly’s misjudgment stunned the stadium. Inzaghi suddenly found himself chasing a game against an opponent that had arrived with belief and now had the scoreline to match it.
Al-Owais error turns setback into crisis
Just when Al-Hilal needed stability, the mistakes multiplied.
On 44 minutes, Al-Owais made the wrong call. He rushed off his line, misread the situation, and the ball broke loose amid a scramble and visible defensive confusion. Neom kept their heads. Amadou Koné reacted first and swept in the second goal.
What began as an enforced change had spiralled into a full-blown crisis. Al-Owais, thrown in at the last moment, failed to provide the security Bounou usually guarantees, while the Koulibaly-led back line cracked under pressure. Neom walked into the dressing room with a two-goal cushion and the hosts staring at a mountain.
Neom lean on a ruthless record
The numbers underlined the scale of Al-Hilal’s task. According to Opta, Neom had won all three matches this season in which they scored the opening goal across the first five Roshn League rounds.
Now they had two.
That statistic loomed large. This was not a side that gifted comebacks once they struck first, and they had shown from the start of the campaign that they knew how to lock down a lead.
Al-Hilal had arrived in the sixth round flawless: five wins from five, 15 points, momentum surging. One injury in the warm-up, a flurry of individual errors, and that smooth start was suddenly under severe examination.
A rare sight for Al-Hilal
Trailing 0–2 at half-time in the Pro League is not a scene Al-Hilal fans witness often. The last time they went in at the break two or more goals down came against Al-Fateh in May 2025, when they also trailed 2–0 at half-time before roaring back to snatch a 4–3 victory.
That memory will have lingered in the stands as the players walked off, heads bowed, under the weight of Neom’s advantage and their own self-inflicted wounds.
The question now is simple: can this Al-Hilal side summon that same response when the next crisis comes, or will nights like this define their season?
