Simone Inzaghi Faces Backlash Over Ali Al-Bulaihi Comments

Simone Inzaghi walked into his pre‑match press conference expecting questions about tactics and line‑ups. He walked out at the centre of a storm.

On the eve of Al-Hilal’s Roshn League opener against Al-Faisaly on Friday night, the Italian coach explained why experienced defender Ali Al-Bulaihi had been kept away from group training. Inzaghi said he wanted to “watch the young players” and suggested the centre-back’s age was a factor in his thinking.

Those remarks landed badly.

Speaking on the “Nadina” programme, former Saudi national team star Hussein Abdulghani tore into the Al-Hilal coach’s stance, branding the explanation both “strange” and “surprising”.

“Inzaghi's words are strange and surprising to me,” Abdulghani said. “He says that Ali Al-Bulaihi has grown older and that he wants to give the youngsters a chance, and that is illogical given the squad he has.”

The criticism cut straight to the heart of Al-Hilal’s dressing-room hierarchy. Al-Bulaihi is not just another squad player; he is a defender who has carried the club’s colours through title races and continental campaigns. To hear his absence framed as a simple generational shift touched a nerve.

Abdulghani then twisted the knife with a pointed comparison.

“Is Benzema 20 years old, or Koulibaly 21?” he asked sarcastically, highlighting the contradiction between talk of youth and the reality of a star-studded, veteran-heavy squad. “The coach says anything to justify excluding Al-Bulaihi, but I see that the handling of the player is not professional.”

The message was clear: if Al-Hilal are building for the future, they are doing it with some of the most experienced names in world football, not a group of academy hopefuls. In that context, sidelining one of the club’s long-serving pillars under the banner of “youth” has raised more questions than answers.

For Abdulghani, the issue runs deeper than one selection call. It is about how Saudi clubs treat players who have given their peak years to the badge.

“Al-Bulaihi gave a lot to Al-Hilal, and the management should have satisfied him and sold him in a normal way, instead of dealing with him in this strange manner,” he said. “Saudi clubs deal with the players they do not want in such an unprofessional way.”

The timing could hardly be more delicate. A new Roshn League season is about to start, expectations around Al-Hilal are sky-high, and the debate over respect for veterans versus ruthless renewal has burst into the open.

If this is how matchday one looks, what happens when the pressure of a title race really bites?