Al-Okhdood 0-6 Al Hilal: Benzema's debut hat-trick keeps visitors top

Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick on his Al-Hilal debut as the Saudi Pro League leaders thrashed Al-Okhdood 6-0.

Match Report

Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick on his Al-Hilal debut as the Saudi Pro League leaders thrashed Al-Okhdood 6-0.

       

The Frenchman, who joined from rivals Al-Ittihad earlier in the week, completed his hat-trick in the 64th minute before Malcom scored and twice assisted Salem Al Dawsari to wrap up a big win at Prince Hathloul Bin Abdul Aziz Sport City Stadium.

Nasser Al Dawsari thought he opened the scoring in the 19th minute after finishing off a brilliant move with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but a foul in the build-up saw the goal disallowed following a VAR review.

Benzema then got his first shortly after the half-hour mark, backheeling the ball through the legs of Koray Gunter from close range, before doubling his tally after the break with a simple finish from Malcom's cut-back.

After Benzema got his third with a tap-in from Salem Al Dawsari's centre, he then returned the favour for Malcom's earlier assist by teeing up the Brazilian in the 70th minute, with the goal initially disallowed for offside before being overturned.

Malcom then played a crucial role in Al-Hilal's fifth, beating two defenders to get to the byline before squaring the ball to Salem Al Dawsari, who tapped it into an empty net before sealing victory with a composed finish on the counter in the 93rd minute.

Data Debrief: Benzema haunts Al-Okhdood again       

Despite only scoring once in the first half, it was a routine win in the end for Simone Inzaghi's side. They produced 5.14 expected goals (xG) from 19 shots to Al-Okhdood's 0.91 from 10 attempts.

Remarkably, this was Benzema's second hat-trick against Al-Okhdood this season. The former Real Madrid man also scored three times against them on the opening day of the season for Al-Ittihad.

Benzema accounted for 1.78 of Al-Hilal's total xG, a figure only bettered by Salem Al Dawsari (2.09), while he also created two chances for his new side on debut, with only Malcom (five) and Milinkovic-Savic (four) recording more.

Line-ups

Al-Okhdood XI: Gunter, Khaled Narey, Samuel Portugal, Gökhan Gül, Yvan Neyou, Juan Sebastián Pedroza, Burak İnce, Mohammed Abu Abd, Muath Fagihy, Khaled Al-Lazam, Ghassan Hawsawi

Subs: Tokmac Chol Nguen, Rakan Al-Najjar, Mohanad Al-Qaydhi, Saleh Al-Abbas, Saleh Al-Harthi, Hussain Al-Zabdani, Abdulaziz Al-Hatila, Saud Salem, Ibrahim Ashi

Al Hilal XI: Benzema, Koulibaly, Bounou, Salem Al Dawsari, Neves, Milinkovic-Savic, Malcom, Theo, Ali Lajami, Nasser Al-Dawsari, Hamad Al-Yami

Subs: Mohammed Kanoo, Sultan Mandash, Mohammed Al-Yami, Saïmon Bouabré, Saad Al-Mutairi, Murad Al-Hawsawi, Abdulkarim Darisi, Saud Haroun, Rayan Al-Ghamdi