by The New Saints fans of Oswestry Town & Llansanffraid Football Club were certainly in support of Al-Ittihad on Tuesday. The Jeddah side were TNS’s only hope of defending their world record for the longest winning streak by a top-flight men’s team in all competitions. That was decided in December 2016 when the 16-time Cymru Premier champions won their 27th game in a row to end Ajax’s 44-year spell at the top. Al-Ittihad failed and Al-Hilal collected their 28th straight win to take the award from the Anglo-Welsh border to Riyadh.
Damac were the last opponents unbeaten against Al-Hilal and, thanks to a 30-yard free-kick from Nicolae Stanciu, drew 1-1 in September. It was Neymar’s first league start following his big move to the Saudi Pro League, but he played little part in this run due to a cruciate injury sustained against Brazil the following month. Instead, others are shining. Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 28 goals in 30 league and Champions League games since joining from Fulham. Rúben Neves impressed from the start and, in the second half of the season, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is becoming more influential. Brazilian winger Malcom, a big-money buy even if he didn’t make big news, is well settled and so is Salem Al-Dawsari, the Asian player of the year.
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That helps explain why Al-Hilal, under their coach Jorge Jesus, have scored more than three goals in league play this season. Talent at the other end of the field means they are conceding, on average, once every two games. Kalidou Koulibaly alongside Ali Al-Bulaihi is the tightest defense and Saud Abdulhamid, a right-back who should be playing in Europe, and Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou also feature.
It’s an impressive range, especially in Asian terms, but then Al-Hilal is one of four Saudi Arabian teams owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund and has the deepest pockets. Even before that development, however, the Blues were a machine. Al-Hilal has always had winning ways and can never be counted out when trailing in a game or title race. Two seasons ago, they were 16 points behind Al-Ittihad but finished as champions for the 18th time ever. Thanks to this 28 game run, Jesus’ men are 12 points clear of Al-Nassr and Cristiano Ronaldo in second place, and title No 19 will surely be on the way.
Al-Hilal are four-time Asian champions and, after this week’s win over Al-Ittihad, moved into the last four of the Champions League. They are expected to beat Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates, who are coached by Hernán Crespo, and few would bet on them to collect a fifth crown, especially since the domestic league is almost in the bag and that they can focus on Asia. instead.
As José Mourinho – a coach with ongoing ties to jobs in Saudi Arabia – might say, this is their footballing legacy. Fans of other clubs point to other reasons, such as favorable referee decisions and penalties. Al-Hilal were given three starting points in last week’s 3-1 win over struggling Al-Riyadh, Mitrovic scoring and attempting one and Neves converting the other. It summed up the season of the team that has not always been very volatile but always scores – the last failure happened 10 months ago – and last conceded more than one goal on September 1.
It is valid to ask if the Saudi Pro League is as predictable as some in Europe. To a point it is. “The Boss” has won five of the last seven titles and will soon make it six out of eight. The other members of the Big Four have the same wealth but have struggled to achieve the same consistency. Just like in Germany, where Bayern Munich is always there and others break away from the pack to challenge for a while, there is something similar in Saudi Arabia. Al-Ittihad won last season, Al-Nassr in 2019 and Al-Ahli three years before that.
It could be argued that Al-Nassr has big names like Ronaldo, Sadio Mané, Marcelo Brozovic and Aymeric Laporte. These stars, especially Ronaldo, are being counted on to make the difference, but even when they do the backline has had major problems with no league clean sheets for nine games. After the team dropped out of the title race and crashed out of Asia this week, coach Luís Castro is under pressure.
Al-Ittihad were champions last season but after the addition of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kanté, Fabinho and Jota, they have become weaker. Marcelo Gallardo has replaced Nuno Espírito Santo and although there are signs that the team is becoming a little more expansive, there is a way to go. Al-Ahli were promoted and along with Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino and Allan Saint-Maximin, should finish in the top three and hope to build on next season.
However, history shows that it is not easy enough to challenge Al-Hilal consistently and today confirms an excellent winning mentality.
