Saudi King’s Cup Scoop: Hilal’s 4-1 Destruction Sends Them to Semifinals

Match Recap

Hilal advanced to the King’s Cup semifinals for 2025-26 after a convincing 4-1 win over Al Fateh on Saturday evening at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, keeping their strong cup form alive.

The starting XI featured Yassine Bounou in goal and a back line with Theo Hernandez, Kalidou Koulibaly and Hassan Tambakti, while the midfield trio consisted of Neves, Savic and Nasser Al-Dosari, and the attack was led by Salem Al-Dawsari, Darwin Nunez and Malcolm.

Malcolm opened the scoring in the 21st minute with a left-footed strike from outside the box, and Robin Neves doubled the lead two minutes later.

Hilal kept pressing, and Hassan Tambakti headed home from a Neves corner to make it 3-0 in the 35th minute.

Early in the second half, Marcus Leonardo scored the fourth in the 49th minute after a coordinated move started by Salem Al-Dawsari and Theo Hernandez, while Matias Vargas struck Fateh’s consolation in the 90+2.

Hilal dominated the first half, creating several early chances from Savic and Al-Dawsari; two shots hit the woodwork before the goals came. Darwin Nunez picked up a knee injury and had to be substituted by Marcus Leonardo.

In the second half, Fateh pressed but Bono was solid, with Vargas forcing reflex saves and one effort hitting the post.

As the game wore on, Inzaghi made four substitutions to shore up the defense; a late Hilal goal was disallowed for offside, and Vargas added a late consolation for Fateh.

With this win, Hilal booked a place in the semifinals and await the draw on Sunday to learn their opponent.

Punchline 1: If goals were a dessert, Hilal served a four-course feast and Fateh left with an empty plate.

Punchline 2: If you blinked, you missed the goals; good thing there were highlights to remind us how many times Hilal found the net.