Ollie Watkins Shines with Brace for Al-Hilal
Ollie Watkins needed a night like this. Al-Hilal gave him the stage, and in Buraidah he grabbed it with both hands.
The Saudi Roshn League giants travelled to face Al-Taawoun in the seventh round of the season, and their new English striker rolled back the clock to his Premier League pomp with a ruthless, two-goal display.
The tone was set early. In the ninth minute, Ruben Neves looked up, spotted the run, and dropped a long ball over the top. Watkins exploded into space, outpaced the defence and, one-on-one, opened his body before sliding a composed finish into the net. One chance, one goal. Al-Hilal in front, their new No.9 fully switched on.
Al-Taawoun never really recovered from that early punch, and Al-Hilal kept piling forward. Watkins stretched the back line, dragged defenders wide, and kept demanding the ball in behind. It felt familiar – the same direct, relentless movement that tormented Premier League back fours last season.
The pressure told again after the break. With Al-Hilal already cruising, Watkins struck for a second time in the 56th minute, his team’s fifth of the night. Bursting from midfield, he sliced straight through the heart of the Al-Taawoun defence, surged clear and finished with the calm of a man who has lived this moment countless times before. No fuss, no drama. Just a clean, clinical strike.
That goal completed his first brace in Al-Hilal colours since arriving from Aston Villa in the summer. For a 30-year-old forward who built his reputation on these doubles, it felt like muscle memory. He hit five braces for Villa in the Premier League last season, including back-to-back hauls against Liverpool and Manchester City in the final two rounds. This was that same striker, just in a different shade of blue.
His start in Saudi Arabia had been steady rather than spectacular. Watkins scored on his debut in a 3-0 win over Al-Ahli, then went two games without a goal against Al-Shabab and Neom. The movement was there, the work rate was there, but the finishing touch briefly went missing.
In Buraidah, it came roaring back. And if this is the version of Ollie Watkins that Al-Hilal see regularly, the rest of the Saudi Roshn League has a serious problem.
