Simone Inzaghi has made a winning start to life as Al Hilal coach in the Saudi Pro League, but standing in his path to making it two-in-two is Al Qadsiah and their new star striker Mario Retegui. The Italian scored a brace on debut and along with the likes of Belgian international Koeen Casteels in goal and Nacho (formerly of Real Madrid, of course), forms the backbone of a strong side that could upset the establish big boys in the division.
They don't come much bigger than Al Hilal, who have had some squad churn of their own over the summer. They have a new star up top too in the form of Darwin Nunez, and although the Uruguayan didn't score in the opener, he'll be keen to get going early. Inzaghi and Nunez are part of the revamped project to wrestle back the title from rivals Al Ittihad, after they pipped Al Hilal to the title last season in a tight race.
Here's everything you need to about Saturday's game:
How to watch:
The match will be available on ESPN Africa across Sub-Saharan Africa and FanCode in India. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Note: How to tune in to ESPN -- ESPN: DStv 218, StarTimes 248 and ESPN2: DStv 219, StarTimes 249
Key Details:
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13 at 8.00 p.m. CAT (9:00 PM Saudi; 11:30 p.m. IST)
Venue: Kingdom Arena, Riyadh
Injury news:
Al Hilal
Suhayb Al Zaid, M: ACL, OUT, est. return Jan '26
Expected Lineups:
Al Hilal
GK: Yassine Bounou
RB: Joao Cancelo | CB: Hassan Tombakti | CB: Kalidou Koulibaly | CB: Moteb Al Harbi
CM: Ruben Neves | CM: Nasser Al Dawsari
RW: Malcom | CAM: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | LW: Salem Al Dawsari
CF: Darwin Nunez
Al Qadsiah
GK: Koeen Casteels
RB: Mohammed Aboulshamat | CB: Nacho | CB: Gaston Alvarez | LB: Yasser Al Shahrani
RM: Nahitan Nandez | CM: Ali Abdullah | CM: Musab Al Juwayr | LM: Turki Al Ammar
CF: Julian Quinones | CF: Mario Retegui
Stats:
Salem Al Dawsari leads the assists charts after MD1, having had two in the opener.
Al Hilal's 2-0 win vs Al Riyadh in the opener saw the biggest crowd in MD1: 21,901
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