The Portuguese Ruben Neves, midfielder for Al-Hilal, spoke about his team's match against Al-Shabab, criticizing the Lions' style of play in the derby match that was decided by a single goal in favor of the leader today, Friday, in the seventh round of the Roshan Saudi Professional League.

Neves said in his post-match comments: "We played a very difficult match; we knew it would be tough. Al-Shabab is a great team with wonderful players, but we did not expect them to play this way today."

He added: "In the first half, Al-Shabab limited themselves to defending and staying in their penalty area. They really didn't play; they were trying to waste time with every possible opportunity for us and played with 11 players inside the penalty area."

He continued: "It is difficult to play against a team like this, but fortunately, we achieved the goal and did not give them any real chance. All I remember was a shot from outside the penalty area and another from Carrasco; they did not start attacking until our player Koulibaly was sent off. As I said, the match was tough, and the most important thing is that we got the three points."

He concluded: "After the break, we won all our matches; we are on the right track, but we are not performing the way we want to. We know we can put in more effort, and our main goal is continuous improvement."