Al Hilal climbed to second place in the Saudi Professional League after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Al Shabab on Friday in the seventh round of the competition. The match was played at Al Hilal’s home ground, and despite finishing the game with ten men due to a direct red card for Kalidou Koulibaly in the 77th minute, Al Hilal dominated possession for most of the match. Key chances were missed by Robin Neves, Marcus Leonardo, and Theo Hernandez before Leonardo scored the decisive goal in the 36th minute. Al Shabab failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage and have now gone five matches without a victory, sitting at 13th place with 6 points, while Al Hilal moved to 17 points, just two behind third-place Al Taawoun. League leaders Al Nassr hold 18 points ahead of their match against Al Feiha this weekend. The match highlighted Al Hilal’s resilience and continued push toward the top of the table despite being a player down in the closing stages.