The question before the game was ‘will he or won’t he’ but more important than whether Neymar would make his debut in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening was Al-Hilal thrashing Al-Riyadh 6-1 to go back on top of the Saudi Pro League above champions Al-Ittihad in the most emphatic of styles. It is a case of so far so good for the 18-time champions who now have 16 points from the first six games. It was a regulation win but it was a bit more than that. It was a perfect evening. In the end Neymar, who surpassed Pele’s goalscoring record for Brazil in the international break as he moved on to 79 goals for the five-time world champions, came off the bench to a rapturous reaction just after the hour. By then, the result wasn’t really in doubt but he had the fans on their feet and very excited about the future. He had been there watching from the bench as his team-mates in blue made the running against the newly-promoted team from elsewhere in the capital who had collected four points from the first five –now six–games of the season. The breakthrough came after 27 minutes as Michael broke into the right side of the area and was brought down by Mohammed Al-Shwirekh. The referee pointed to the spot and Aleksandar Mitrovic stepped up to fire home his fifth goal of the season so far. Riyadh gave as good as they got but just could not find a way through the blue backline and then Al-Hilal extended their lead just before the break. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic drove towards the left side of the area and then slipped the ball through to Yasser Al-Shahrani. The left-back then returned the favour and then was resupplied by the Serbian and shot home from close range. From then on, it was always going to be the case that Riyadh were going to take the short journey home across the capital with nothing. By that time, Neymar was on the pitch and soon after he entered, it was 3-0 as Nasser Al-Dawsari fired home from close range after Malcom was fouled in the area. There was still time for more goals and Neymar’s first major attacking contribution. With seven minutes remaining, the former Barcelona star slipped the ball to Malcom and his fellow Brazilian swept the ball home to make it 4-0 and to really ensure that was that as far as Al-Riyadh were concerned. With three minutes remaining, Hilal were given a penalty. The fans made it clear that they expected the new man to take it but instead it fell to Salem Al-Dawsari to make it five. Five minutes into added time, Neymar shot from outside the area only for the goalkeeper to palm the ball out for Al-Dawsari to grab his second. Al-Hilal fans were in dreamland and even a very late and very small consolation goal from Ali Al-Zaqan did not dampen the spirits of the home fans. It meant that the Blues maintained their unbeaten start to the season and returned to pole position above Al-Ittihad. The Jeddah giants had suffered their first loss of the season to Hilal before the international break, with a dramatic 4-3 defeat but bounced back to win 1-0 on Friday at Al-Okhdood. Karim Benzema grabbed the only goal of a hard-fought game with 18 minutes remaining/ Haroune Camara rolled the ball back from the left byline and it bounced fortuitously for the French striker who clinched the three points from close range. Also Thursday, Al-Wehda’s promising start to the season continued with a 4-2 win over Damac as Odion Ighalo bagged a hat-trick. On Friday, Al-Shabab picked up their first three points of the season with a 1-0 victory at Al-Fayha. Moroccan defender Romain Saiss got the only goal of the game.