RIYADH: Saudi Arabian clubs are going to have to get accustomed to the new reality of football.
After a pre-season friendly in Austria on Tuesday finished with Al-Hilal defeating ND Gorica 2-0, players from the Slovenian club went over to Ruben Neves to take photos with the Portuguese star.
It was, after all, a historic occasion as the Portugal international made his first appearance for the 18-time champions. There should be many more to come even if most will not be as gentle as this.
It has been a busy few days for the club with Jorge Jesus taking over as head coach for a second time.
As has happened before, Al-Hilal have headed to the green expanses of Austria and faced the second-tier Slovenians.
The Portuguese boss named a familiar team with Mohammed Al-Owais in goal and a back four of Mohammed Al-Burayk, Ali Al-Bulaihi, Mohammed Al-Khaibari, and Nasser Al-Dawsari. In midfield, there was Andre Carrillo, Mohamed Kanno, and Salem Al-Dawsari, and Michael with Saleh Al-Shehri and Abdullah Al-Hamdan in attack.
For an early pre-season friendly there was a good level of intensity with both teams trying to get forward and Al-Shehri should really have put his team ahead after 15 minutes, side footing wide from close range with the goal at his mercy.
The four-time Asian champions were on top with Michael and Al-Hamdan forcing the goalkeeper into action but there was nothing he could do just before the break when Al-Khaibari fired a shot into the net from outside the area for a rare goal.
As one would expect in such an early pre-season game there were a number of changes made after the break with Jesus looking to give several other players some time on the pitch.
Neves came off the bench but, with just five minutes remaining, it was the highly rated young forward Abdullah Radif who scored to remind everyone that there is much more to Saudi football than high-profile signings. It was a real striker’s goal as he slid in to extend his team’s lead.
Neves was there at that point and delivered some dangerous balls into the area and his close control was there for all to see. It will take time for the star who arrived from Wolverhampton Wanderers — and was in demand from some of Europe’s top clubs — to get up to speed with his new team but the signs were there.
Kalidou Koulibaly, the defender signed from Chelsea, did not appear as he reported for training duty with his new team just the previous day.
It was an encouraging performance and with three more games to come in Europe, there are going to be more opportunities for Jesus to mold his team into shape.
Al-Hilal followed Al-Nassr who defeated Portuguese team Alverca 2-0 on the previous evening.
Abdulfattah Adam burst free down the left early in the game to fire home after the eighth minute. It was a fine goal as was Anderson Talisca’s strike in the second half as the Brazilian showed his close control in a crowded penalty area and then the kind of goalscoring instinct that he has demonstrated since arriving in Saudi Arabia.
In this instance, Cristiano Ronaldo was absent, but new coach Luis Castro was present and applauding some of the skills and moves shown by his new set of players.
For these two big hitters in Saudi and Asian football that have been the subject of such attention from the world’s media in recent weeks and months, it was a relief to be back on the field.
There is going to be so much football played in the coming season and so many games. It has just started and who knows where it will end? Most games will not end with selfies with opponents, but there are bigger prizes at stake.
