Galtier celebrates historic Neom victory as Al Hilal’s 47-match unbeaten run ends

Christophe Galtier described Neom’s 2-0 victory away to Al Hilal as a “historic” achievement after the Saudi Pro League leaders suffered their first league defeat in 47 matches.

Neom secured a landmark win at Al Hilal’s home ground on Monday in the sixth round of the season, despite their opponents fielding a formidable attacking line-up. Galtier praised his players’ discipline and mentality, while also highlighting the contribution of goalkeeper Marcin Bulka.

“This result is historic, a great achievement, and I congratulate everyone associated with Neom,” Galtier told Saudi newspaper Al Riyadiyah. “Our mentality was excellent, and I asked the players to make things difficult for Al Hilal.”

The French manager also credited Bulka with making several important saves during the match.

“Matches like this require some luck, and I would like to thank Bulka, who saved us on several occasions,” he said.

Galtier added: “The team’s mentality was excellent, and we gave everything we had to win. I hope this match will help increase the players’ confidence.”

The result ended Al Hilal’s run of 47 consecutive league matches without defeat. They therefore missed the opportunity to equal the Saudi record held by Al Ahli, who went 51 league games unbeaten between 2014 and 2016.

Neom took the lead in the 15th minute when Al Hilal defender Kalidou Koulibaly scored an own goal. Amadou Kone then doubled the visitors’ advantage close to half-time.

Al Hilal had been dealt a blow before kick-off when Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou suffered an injury during the warm-up. Mohammed Al-Owais replaced him in goal.

The home side started with three forwards who had joined from the English Premier League this season: Crysencio Summerville, Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli. However, they were unable to find a way through Neom’s defence.

The match also marked Martinelli’s first start for Al Hilal since joining from Arsenal.

Galtier rejected the suggestion that his pre-match comments had underestimated the difficulty of the contest.

“I said the match would not be difficult, but I did not use the word easy,” he said. “We faced a very good team from an attacking point of view, but we put in a committed defensive performance. We did not have any pressure before the match; the pressure was on Al Hilal.”

He said Neom’s work on set-pieces had also contributed to the result.

“We have worked on set-pieces since last season and continued that work this season,” Galtier said. “During training, we held video sessions to study how to benefit from them, and the players’ height also helped us.”

Galtier said Neom had struggled to achieve positive results against the leading teams last season, managing only one victory against Al-Ittihad. He believes this season’s squad has developed both in quality and maturity.

“Last season, we were not successful against the big teams, and we achieved only one win against Al-Ittihad,” he said. “This season we have a different team, and our players have become more mature. I hope we can maintain this consistency.”

He added that preparations for such matches were enjoyable, but said victory against Al Hilal required both hard work and good fortune.

“It is always nice to prepare for these matches, but to win against the best team in Asia, Al Hilal, we need luck as well as the great effort we put in,” Galtier said.

Al Hilal remain top of the table on 15 points, three ahead of both Al-Nassr and Al-Qadsiah, who have each played one match fewer. Neom moved to 12 points and climbed to fourth place.