Al-Hilal's Winning Streak Ends with Loss to Neom

Al-Hilal’s perfect start to the Roshn League season was ripped up before a ball was even kicked.

Warming up, Yassine Bounou pulled up injured and could not continue. Mohammed Al-Owais was rushed in to replace him, a late change that rattled the visitors just as they looked to extend a run of five straight wins.

Early shock, early damage

From the first whistle, Al-Hilal looked a step slow. Neom were anything but. Compact, disciplined and aggressive without the ball, the hosts closed every gap in front of the Al-Hilal stars, strangling the spaces where the league leaders usually thrive.

The punishment arrived on 15 minutes. Kalidou Koulibaly, under pressure, diverted the ball into his own net to hand Neom the lead. One touch, one mistake, and Al-Hilal’s game plan was suddenly in pieces.

The response was immediate in intent, not in execution. Al-Hilal pushed, but kept slamming into that same blue-and-white wall. Most of their shots came from distance, speculative efforts that never truly disturbed the Neom goal. Sultan Al-Ghannam tried. Krisencio Summerville tried. The end product simply wasn’t there.

Inzaghi gambles, chances go begging

Simone Inzaghi refused to let the game drift. After the break he changed the picture, sending on Nasser Al-Dawsari, Sultan Mandash and Mohamed Kader Mete to inject pace and sharper movement into the final third.

The switch almost paid off immediately.

On 50 minutes, Gabriel Martinelli burst clear, one-on-one with the Neom goalkeeper and with the equaliser at his feet. He dragged it. A huge chance gone. Three minutes later, Ruben Neves bent a left-footed effort inches wide of the far post. The pressure was building, the leaders finally playing like leaders.

Then Neom’s own star took over.

Bulka slams the door

On 65 minutes, Ollie Watkins rose inside the box and powered a header towards goal. It looked destined for the corner. Marcin Bulka exploded across his line and clawed it away, a stunning save that cut through Al-Hilal’s momentum and sent belief surging through the home side.

That wasn’t a one-off. Bulka had already beaten away other Al-Hilal efforts earlier in the half, and each stop chipped away at the visitors’ confidence. With their keeper in commanding form, Neom grew in control, slowed the tempo and began to manage every minute.

Al-Hilal, chasing, ran out of ideas. Neom, sensing the scale of the result, ran down the clock with authority and closed out a statement 2-0 victory.

A streak snapped, a title race stirred

The defeat leaves Al-Hilal stranded on 15 points, their first Roshn League loss of the season and the end of a five-match winning streak. It is more than a blip: it is their first domestic defeat since Simone Inzaghi took charge at the start of last season.

Neom, by contrast, climb to 12 points with their fourth win of the campaign, their organisation and resilience rewarded against the division’s benchmark side.

And somewhere in Riyadh, Al-Nassr will have watched it all with interest. They also sit on 12 points going into this round and now know that a win over Abha on Wednesday would slice Al-Hilal’s lead down to a single point.

For the champions-elect on paper, the margin for error just shrank on the pitch.