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RIYADH: Visitors Al-Hilal defeated Al-Ettifaq in Dammam on Saturday afternoon to climb to second in the Saudi Pro League table as domestic football returns to the Kingdom following a week that saw the national team qualify to the 2026 World Cup.

The 5-0 win reestablished Al-Hilal’s title pretensions and left them on 11 points from five matches. Al-Ettifaq remain in 10th with seven points from the same number of fixtures.

Marco Leonardo opened the scoring after only 15 minutes, finishing past Marek Rodak after some poor defending from the Ettifaq defenders following Al-Hilal rightback Hamad Al-Yami’s cross from the byline.

The lead was doubled on 39 minutes when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic disposed Duda in the middle of the park and found Malcolm and the right wing. The Brazilian in turn squared a simple pass to Darwin Nunez to score from close range. On the sideline Simone Inzaghi applauded another fine team goal.

While the home team attempted to reduce the deficit before the break with a concerted period of pressure, it was Al-Hilal who continued to look the more dangerous on the break. The first half would see no further goals.

If Al-Hilal had been the more threatening team in the first half, they were brutally dominant in the early stages of the second.

Ruben Neves made it 3-0 from the penalty spot in the 48th minute to end the match as a contest before the home team had any chance of making a belated impression on it.

Only seven minutes later, a free kick from Neves was nodded by the tireless Nunez toward Leonardo, who made it four with a close range-header.

The ordeal for Al-Ettifaq was not over. On 74 minutes, Milinkovic-Savic’s inch-perfect cross from the right was met at the near post by Nunez for his second and Al-Hilal’s fifth of the night.

Al-Hilal next welcome Qatar’s Al-Sadd to Riyadh in the AFC Champions League Elite, before traveling to Jeddah for a Saudi Pro League clash with reigning champions Al-Ittihad.

MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s Erling Haaland kept up his torrid scoring pace with two goals in five second-half minutes on Saturday to lift City provisionally top of the table with a 2-0 Premier League victory over Everton.
Pep Guardiola’s men have 16 points after eight games, before Arsenal and Liverpool, now second and third respectively, play their games this weekend. Everton dropped to 10th on 11 points.
The 25-year-old Haaland — who scored in an 11th consecutive game for club and country for a season total of 23 goals — broke the deadlock in the 58th minute when he leapt to head home Nico O’Reilly’s cross from the left.
The Norwegian doubled City’s lead five minutes later when he latched onto Savinho’s cross and struck a blistering left-foot shot from the middle of the box that was slightly deflected by Everton’s James Tarkowski past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Haaland was hungry to complete a hat-trick, with three brilliant chances in the dying minutes, with Pickford racing out to save two of them with his legs. Haaland took the ball around Pickford on the third, but his looping shot from an impossibly tight angle dropped wide of the net.
Haaland shook his head in frustration, while the crowd chanted “Haaland! Haaland!” for his efforts.
City’s Phil Foden hailed Haaland for breaking the deadlock, calling the moment “very important.”
“We know he’s got that quality to time his runs to perfection and be in the right position. If they mark him out of the game he is still capable of scoring and we know he only needs one chance to score.
“He remained very patient, there wasn’t a lot of space for him today. And as you can see he is always there for us at the right times, that is the sign of a world class striker.”
There was no emotional homecoming for Everton winger Jack Grealish, who was ineligible to face his parent club. A TV camera showed Grealish at the game, but the absence of the league’s joint assist leader was a gaping hole for David Moyes’ team.
City, who thoroughly dominated in the second half, had 19 shots to Everton’s five, and seven on target to the visitors’ one.
Everton squandered a handful of chances. Early in the game Iliman Ndiaye raced down the right side before sending a cross to Beto who slid to just get his foot on the ball but poked it wide.
City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma tipped a long shot from Ndiaye over the bar later in the first half.