Al Okhdood 0-3 Al Hilal: Mitrovic double hands champions winning start

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice as Al Hilal kickstarted the defence of their Saudi Pro League title with a comfortable 3-0 win against Al Okhdood.

Mitrovic, who netted a brace in Al Hilal’s 4-1 win over Al-Nassr in the Saudi Super Cup final a week ago, got his league tally up and running in a rampant first half display.

The Serbian opened the scoring with just four minutes on the clock, steering the ball in from close range after being found by Abdullah Al Hamddan inside the area.

He doubled his total shortly before the break, combining again with Al Hamddan before producing a trademark header beyond the grasp of Paulo Vítor.

The triumph was confirmed after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic curled home an exquisite free-kick in first half injury time to net his 14th goal for the club.

Al Hilal failed to replicate their clinical showing after the interval with none of their five shots on target, but the damage had already been done in the first 45 minutes.

First 3 points in the journey of title defending #RoshnSaudiLeague #AlHilal pic.twitter.com/AE8sCqLPcR

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

Data Debrief: Mitrovic continues incredible run

Since his move to Saudi Arabia from Fulham, Mitrovic has not stopped scoring, with his brace taking his tally to 30 goals in 29 Saudi Pro League appearances.

The visitors accumulated an expected goals (xG) of 1.94 in the encounter, with Mitrovic contributing 0.77 to that total with his four shots in the contest.