RIYADH — Al-Hilal defeated Kuwait SC 4-2 in a friendly match, marking the conclusion of preparations for the start of its new season, at King Fahd International Stadium here on Sunday night. The match was preceded by a star-studded ceremony during which several of the club's new signings as well as coach Jorge Jesus were introduced to fans ahead of the commencement of the new Saudi Pro League season in August. The friendly was held a few days before the start of the first competitions of the new football season - the King Salman Cup 2023. This premier club championship in the Arab world, to be organized by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA), will feature 16 top-tier clubs from across the Gulf and North Africa region. Al-Hilal scored the first goal soon after the kick-off. The goal came from a header of the newly introduced Serbian striker Sergej Milinkovic-Savic by taking advantage of a cross from Saud Abdulhamid. Within three minutes, an equalizer came from Kuwait's Taha Al-Khunaisi in the fifth minute. Salem Al-Dawsari gave Al-Hilal the lead once again thanks to a penalty caused by Abdullah Al-Hamdan on the ninth minute, while Brazilian Michael Delgado succeeded in strengthening Al-Hilal's lead with a third goal before the end of the first half, but Kuwait narrowed the difference with a quick response goal from Yassin Al-Omari. With the start of the second half, the newly joined Al-Hilal squad member the Portuguese Ruben Neves managed to make his mark and scored the fourth goal of the match through the penalty on the sixth minute of the second half. . The Kuwaiti players missed two penalty kicks in the second half of the match, as the first one was missed by Faisal Al-Harbi in the 85th minute, before the referee awarded another penalty kick in the 93rd minute, which was missed by Youssef Al-Salman. The friendly match was preceded by a simple ceremony hosted by Al-Hilal officials to present its new Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus and the newly joined players for the new season - Portuguese Ruben Neves, Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly and Serbian Savic. The Portuguese coach Jesus presented the main list of his players for the match. Abdullah Al-Mayouf was the goalkeeper, while the players in the defense line were Saud Abdul Hamid, Coulibaly, Ali Al-Bulayhi and Nasser Al-Dawsari, and in the middle field were Robin Neves, Carrillo, Salem Al-Dawsari, Michael Delgado, Savic, while Abdullah Al-Hamdan was alone as forward. In the second half, Jesus made many substitutions that witnessed the participation of young faces, in order to find out their levels before the start of the new season.
