RIYADH: Al-Hilal may have relinquished their 100 percent start to the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League season, but for defender Kalidou Koulibaly, the Capital Derby was another display of the title-holders’ championship mettle.
Not even a minute had elapsed on Friday night when Al-Hilal went behind to chief rivals Al-Nassr, the hosts ahead through Anderson Talisca’s 55-second finish to send the majority of the 25,000-plus crowd at Al-Awwal Park wild in celebration.
Al-Hilal, to that point with eight wins from eight to begin the season where they left off last term, were in an instant in danger of their mammoth unbeaten RSL run coming to an end.
But, as champions do, they rallied. Indeed, they could have nicked a ninth successive win had a late claim for a penalty gone their way. However, as the middle of three marquee matches in the RSL’s inaugural Derby Week came to a close, Jorge Jesus’ side would settle for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s headed equalizer 13 minutes from time.
A gripping encounter, which included three disallowed goals and no shortage of competitive spikiness, ended in a 1-1 draw — and a share of the spoils.
“A good game against a nice team who were prepared,” Al-Hilal defender Koulibaly said. “They made a lot of difficulties for us, but the draw was fair because, as I said, they make a lot of trouble for us. But we always believed we could score this goal, and we scored it. So, we can be happy tonight.”
Al-Hilal, who last season enjoyed a record-breaking title triumph, thought they should have been granted the opportunity to win the derby in the closing stages, when they appealed vigorously for a penalty following a coming together between striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento.
Yet, following a VAR review, the initial decision of no infringement was upheld. Koulibaly, though, preferred to focus on the positives. Namely, his side’s formidable strength of character.
“I don’t like to speak about (the decision),” the former Napoli and Chelsea center-back said. “I’m a defender and when it’s a penalty it’s a penalty. We are not happy because it’s not for us this time, but the most important is the mentality of the team to come back.”
With the draw, Al-Hilal’s undefeated streak in the RSL stretches to 45 matches and all the way back to the tail end of the 2022-23 season. This campaign’s winning run halted, they still remain right where they want to be — after nine rounds, they are perched at the RSL summit, one point ahead of second-placed Al-Ittihad and six out in front of Al-Nassr, their great cross-city competitors, in third.
“For you we lost two points, but for us it’s OK,” Koulibaly told reporters. “We are used to seeing Al-Hilal always win but today was a tough game. We draw and we can feel OK. It’s difficult to win every game, to try to win every game. But we can happy also because it was against a strong team, and we were away from home.
“We were behind from the first minute, but we showed good character. I’m proud of my team.”
Asked what he would promise the Al-Hilal fans, many of whom chanted and cheered on their team from behind the goal in which Milinkovic-Savic secured the point, Koulibaly said: “We promise to continue like this. We are making a good performance in league, we are getting through some tough games. We will continue to work to build on our work.”
For now, Koulibaly said it did not matter that Matchweek 9 concluded with the capital club’s lead at the top reduced to a solitary point. Although, the RSL title race is undoubtedly heating up.
“We just look for Al-Hilal,” the Senegal international said. “We don’t look for anyone else.”
