RIYADH: The headline Saudi Pro League fixture of Matchday 8 drew 22,808 fans to Kingdom Arena on Saturday evening for a thrilling Saudi Clasico — and they were not disappointed. Ollie Watkins was the star of the night, contributing to all three goals in Al-Hilal’s 3-2 victory to bring his season tally to five goals and four assists in just five games.

Before the fans went head-to-head in the chanting department, Saudi national team goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais emerged with the Gulf Cup trophy ahead of kick-off to unite them in celebration, as players from both sides formed a guard of honor while the stadium rang out with the Green Falcons’ anthem, “Allah Ya Montakhabna.”

As soon as the referee sounded the whistle for kick-off, the friendship and camaraderie ended. After all, this was the Saudi Clasico — and with both teams pushing for top spot, there would be no mercy on the pitch.

Unfortunately for Al-Ittihad, two players who embody that mentality most vividly on the pitch were missing from the fixture. George Ilenikhena — who scored a brace in their victory over Al-Nassr earlier this season — and Richard Rios were both omitted from the squad, with no official reason given for their absence.

Rios’ fearless style of play would have proved useful when Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring for Al-Hilal just 12 minutes in. Under high pressure from the Al-Hilal midfield, Houssem Aouar lost possession in his own half before a deft backheel from Ruben Neves slipped Saimon Bouabre through toward the box. Bouabre found Ollie Watkins, who drove to the byline before cutting back for the former Arsenal man to open the scoring.

Those midfield battles would shape much of the game. Just over 10 minutes later, a combination between Martinelli and Bouabre outside the Al-Ittihad box broke down, allowing Al-Ittihad to immediately spring Marwan Al-Sahafi on the counter. Youssef En-Nesyri darted in behind the Al-Hilal defense to receive Al-Sahafi’s through ball before finishing brilliantly past fellow Moroccan Yassine Bounou in the 23rd minute.

The parity was soon shattered by a blunder from Danilo Pereira at the half-hour mark. With Neves free to deliver his trademark inswinging crosses from deep, Pereira attempted to bring the ball down with his chest — failing to notice Watkins lurking behind him. The Englishman pounced to poke the ball into the net and restore Al-Hilal’s lead.

Despite an Al-Ittihad rally toward the end of the first half, Watkins appeared to have scored again in first-half stoppage time — a goal that would have ended the visitors’ hopes of a comeback. But the referee called a VAR review, which revealed that Watkins had handled the ball on its way into the net.

After a breathless first half that saw three goals and one ruled out, the second half began at a notably slower pace, with Al-Ittihad pushing Al-Hilal deeper in search of an equalizer. Georginio Wijnaldum came on for Al-Sahafi in the 58th minute, but made little impact before Al-Hilal struck a third minutes later.

Watkins — dropping deep to receive the ball in behind the Al-Ittihad midfield — released Crysencio Summerville in transition in the 64th minute, with the Dutchman driving toward goal and sending right-back Muhannad Al-Shangeeti the wrong way before curling into the far corner past Predrag Rajkovic.

That looked like it would set the tone for the rest of the match, and initially — it did. In the 87th minute, however, a VAR review caught a fallen Al-Ittihad player in the box. Jan-Carlo Simic was clipped by Neves, resulting in a penalty, which Bergwijn converted to reduce the deficit in the 89th minute.

Al-Ittihad pushed — even launching Rajkovic forward for the final set-piece attempts — however, Al-Hilal held on to claim the 3-2 victory and move top of the table on 21 points. Al-Ittihad, meanwhile, suffer their first defeat of the season, and remain in fourth place on 17 points — two behind Al-Qadsiah and Al-Nassr in second and third place, respectively.

Elsewhere, two 1-1 draws took place earlier on Saturday. Said Benrahma returned for NEOM to equalize against Al-Hazem, while Bersant Celina cancelled out Joshua King’s penalty for Al-Ettifaq to share the spoils against Al-Khaleej in one of the league’s Eastern Province derbies.

Saudi Pro League action continues on Sunday with three fixtures: Al-Fayha host Al-Riyadh at 4:40 p.m., followed by Abha facing Al-Faisaly at 6:25 p.m. The round’s final fixture kicks off at 9 p.m., when Al-Shabab host Al-Taawoun at the SHG Arena.