Al-Bukayriyah 0-1 Al-Hilal: Leonardo sends defending King´s Cup champions through

Marcos Leonardo’s first-half penalty was enough to book Al-Hilal a spot in the King’s Cup round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Al-Bukayriyah.

The defending champions dominated from the start, with Abdullah Al Hamddan and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic both seeing early efforts saved by Dziugas Bartkus.

Al Hamddan then won the game-winning spot-kick in the 40th minute, being brought down in the box by Ibrahim Al Sunaytan, and Leonardo made no mistake from 12 yards.

Al-Hilal kept pushing for another goal, with substitutes Renan Lodi and Aleksandar Mitrovic both testing Bartkus in the second half, but they could not add to the scoreline.

Neymar, who is gearing up for his return to action after a year on the sidelines, was not involved for Al-Hilal, who lead the way in the Saudi Pro League.

The first step in defending the title has been completed #KingCup pic.twitter.com/7IWIw6w6HT

— AlHilal Saudi Club (@Alhilal_EN) September 24, 2024

Data Debrief: Leonardo proves the difference

Al-Hilal were dominant in the first half, completely overwhelming their opponents as they had 12 of their 17 shots before the break, getting five of those on target.

But across the 90 minutes, it was Leonardo who was the standout, having the second-most shots (three) and accumulating 0.82 expected goals (xG).

His only shot on target may have been the winning penalty, but he proved a handful as he also had the most touches in the opposition box (10).