Al-Hilal's Perfect Start Shattered by Bounou Injury and Neom's Ambush
Al-Hilal’s perfect start to the Roshn League campaign was ripped apart before a ball was even kicked.
During the warm-up, Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou suddenly went down injured. One moment he was going through his routine. The next, Simone Inzaghi was forced into a decision no coach wants minutes before kick-off.
Out went his undisputed No. 1. In came Saudi keeper Mohammed Al-Owais at the last moment, thrown cold into a high-pressure league clash.
From there, the evening unraveled.
Chaos at the back
Al-Hilal never settled. The back line looked jittery, and Al-Owais never found his rhythm. Miscommunication spread across the defence, and Neom sensed weakness straight away.
They went after it.
The visitors pressed, probed, and forced mistakes, pinning Al-Hilal back for long spells in the first half. Every Neom attack seemed to expose another crack in a usually assured structure.
Then came the first hammer blow.
Koulibaly’s own goal deepens the damage
On 15 minutes, Kalidou Koulibaly turned a bad situation into a full-blown problem. The Senegalese defender, normally a pillar of calm, headed into his own net, gifting Neom the opening goal and immediately piling the pressure on Al-Owais.
It was the last thing Al-Hilal needed as they were still reeling from Bounou’s withdrawal. One moment of misfortune had already reshaped the night; Koulibaly’s misjudgment doubled the weight on Inzaghi’s shoulders.
Neom, already brimming with confidence coming into the match, suddenly had the lead and the psychological edge. Al-Hilal, for the first time this season, looked rattled.
Al-Owais error turns setback into crisis
Just before half-time, the situation worsened.
In the 44th minute, Al-Owais rushed off his line in a desperate attempt to cut out danger. He mistimed it badly. The ball broke loose, Al-Hilal’s defence froze, and the chaos inside their own box was glaring.
Amadou Koné reacted quickest. With the hosts in disarray, he pounced and punished them, making it 2-0 to Neom and deepening the crisis that had begun with Bounou’s injury.
What started as an enforced change had become a full defensive collapse. Al-Owais struggled to step into Bounou’s role, while the Koulibaly-led back line faltered under pressure, handing Neom a commanding advantage.
Neom lean on a ruthless record
The numbers painted an even darker picture for Al-Hilal.
Opta data showed Neom had won all three matches this season in which they scored the opening goal across the first five Roshn League rounds. Every time they struck first, they finished the job.
Now they had two on the board.
That 2-0 lead didn’t just give Neom control on the night; it put Al-Hilal up against a side with a proven habit of locking games down once in front. Neom had already shown they knew how to protect a lead. Here, they were handed the ideal scenario.
Perfect start under threat
Al-Hilal had arrived in the sixth round with a flawless record: five wins from five, 15 points, and the look of early-season title favourites.
All of that authority evaporated in 45 minutes.
Bounou’s sudden exit, Al-Owais’ struggles, Koulibaly’s own goal, and the defensive confusion that allowed Koné to score combined to turn a routine league outing into a brutal examination of character.
Trailing 0-2 at the break is a rare sight for Al-Hilal in the Pro League. The last time they went in two or more down at half-time was against Al-Fateh in May 2025, when they trailed by the same score before roaring back to win 4-3.
The question now is simple: does this Al-Hilal have another comeback of that scale in them, or will Neom’s ruthless record make this the night their perfect start finally cracked?
