Defending champion Al-Hilal kicked off its Zain Saudi Professional League season with a 2-1 win over Hajr at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawi Sports City Stadium in Al-Ahsa Saturday. Striker Khaled Al-Rujaib put the Hajr in the lead two minutes before the break. It took the Blues five minutes to level the score through Moroccan striker Yousuf El-Arabi, who scored his second in the 67th minute to push Hilal up 2-1 for good. At King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, midfielder Khaled Zaylai's lone goal of the match against visitors Al-Ra'id in the 23rd minute handed Al-Nasr three points. Al-Ahli also edged its host Al-Ansar 1-0 at the Prince Muhammad Bin Abdul Aziz Stadium in Madina. The winning goal came through Omani striker Emad Al-Hosani in the 71st minute. The match saw two red cards; one against Ahli defender Kamel Fallata in the 62nd minute and the other against Ansar defender Waleed Mahboub in the stoppage time of the match. Al-Shabab, meanwhile, won 3-1 over host Al-Faisali at the Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Sports City Stadium in Al-Majma'ah. Shabab Guinean midfielder Ibrahim Yattara put his team in the lead seven minutes before the break. Croatian midfielder Dario Geretic succeeded in leveling the score for Faisali in the 70th minute. Shabab striker Nasser Al-Shamrani put his team back in the lead seven minutes later, before midfielder Fahd Hamad sealed the win for the visiting side in the last minute of the encounter. In the Hilal-Hajr match, Al-Rujaib made the most of Hilal defender Majed Al-Marshadi's blunder in the 43rd minute when he failed to pass the ball to a teammate around the box leaving it to the former to take it and put it beyond Hilal keeper Hasan Al-Otaibi. Hilal's performance improved only after German coach Thomas Doll brought in midfielder Ahmed Al-Furaidy in place of defender Abdullah Al-Zouri. The replacement added strength to the Hilal team, which then launched several attacks against the host team. Defender Mohammed Nami of Hilal made one of those moves from the right side to send a high cross into the area where Hajr keeper Ghuwainem Al-Ghuwainem failed to clear it and El-Arabi put it in the Hajr net. With Hilal pressing for more goals, substitute Al-Furaidy's pass put El-Arabi face to face with Al-Ghuwainem. The Moroccan striker was again successful in hitting the opponent's net. __
