Al Hilal are back on top of the Saudi Pro League after coming out on top in a thrilling seven-goal tussle with Al Qadsiah on Friday.
Al Qadsiah went into the match as surprise table toppers but fell behind after 21 minutes at Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium when Gabriel Martinelli scored his sixth goal in six SPL games, via a big deflection, since moving from English Premier League side Arsenal.
Brendan Rodger's side were level within 10 minutes, though, when Mexican attacker Julian Quinones – last season's SPL Golden Boot winner – headed home for his fifth goal of the current campaign.
The next goal in Dammam did not arrive until 13 minutes from full-time and it would be Hilal who reclaimed the lead courtesy of a pinpoint low finish into the bottom corner from man of the match Ruben Neves after being teed-up by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
And Hilal appeared to have three points comfortably in the bag with six minutes left with Serbian midfielder Milinkovic-Savic firing home a first-time finish – his 50th for the Riyadh club – after a brilliant cutback from Sultan Mandash.
This Sergej Milinkovic-Savic backheel pass deserved the perfect finish from Ruben Neves 🎯 pic.twitter.com/RHg2FIyS29
— Roshn Saudi League (@SPL_EN) October 23, 2026
But Qadsiah were not going to give up top spot without a fight and Mateo Retegui headed a Tijjani Reijnders free-kick from the left into the back of the net with three minutes to go.
It took the Italian striker's tally for the season to 10 goals in 14 appearances across all competitions, but it was not enough to prevent his team from falling to only their second SPL defeat of the campaign. defeat of the campaign.
Victory means Simone Inzaghi's men have now won nine out of 10 league matches this season taking them to 27 points from 10 games.
Meanwhile, Al Nassr's 3-1 win at struggling Al Faisaly would move them up to second place in the table and drop Qadsiah down to third.
Abdullah Al Hamddan's fine strike handed Nassr an early lead before an own goal by Andrei Girotto – despite Cristiano Ronaldo's attempts to claim it as the 982nd of his career – put Ange Postecoglou's side 2-0 up just after half-time at Al Majma'ah Sports City Stadium.
هدف! ⚽️
— رياضة ثمانية (@thmanyahsports) October 23, 2026
عرضية من رونالدو، وصناعة بالصدر من الحمدان، وأنجيلو يسددها في الزاوية، مسجلًا الهدف الثالث للنصر! 🎯#الفيصلي_النصر | #دوري_روشن_السعودي pic.twitter.com/B9mpXtulzN
Congolese winger Theo Bongonda pulled a goal back for the home side midway through the second half, but an excellent strike from Brazilian attacker Angelo sealed all three points for the reigning champions, who moved ahead of Qadsiah on goal difference but remain two points shy of leaders Hilal.
Ronaldo, who played the full 90 minutes, was clearly destined not to move one closer to 1,000 goals having also hit the post in the first half, then finding the back of the in the second, only for Var to intervene with an obvious offside call.
The Portuguese veteran, who missed a penalty during the midweek win over Neom, did play a key role in the build-up to Angelo's finish as Nassr made it three wins on the bounce.
Al Ahli goal machine Ivan Toney continues his prolific start to the season by grabbing a brace in his team's 4-1 home demolition of Al Khaleej in Jeddah, as they made it four wins on the spin.
🟢⚪ 𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑳
— Central do Arabão (@centraldoarabao) October 23, 2026
⏰ 90+6' AL AHLI 4 x 1 AL KHALEEJ
⚽️ Ivan Toney (p) (2)
No apagar das luzes, Toney marca de pênalti e aumenta ainda mais a vantagem na liderança da artilharia pic.twitter.com/ItZeTTs7Rm
The England striker put Ahli in front after 11 minutes with a deflected header and scored the fourth from the penalty spot in stoppage time for his 13th goal in nine SPL appearances.
A dreadful error from Al Khaleej goalkeeper Marwan Al Haidari ended with Ukrainian midfielder Artem Bondarenko making it 2-0 before Toney set up Trincao for the third.
Khaleej were down to 10 men in the 69th minute when Mateo Benegas was sent off, but they still managed to grab a late consolation through ThamerAl-Khaibari beforee Toney's late spot-kick ended the night on a high forAhli, whoo are fifth in the table, six points shy of Hilal.