Saudi Pro League: Al Hilal defender Kalidou Koulibaly unfazed by Al Nassr pressure

Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly and Al Hilal’s aim of stretching their lead at the top of the Saudi Pro League table hit a snag on Monday following their goalless draw at home to Al Ahli Saudi on Monday.

Hilal were six points above second placed Al Nassr prior to hosting Al Ahli-Saudi but Nassr’s 1-0 win at Al Riyadh courtesy Sadio Mane’s solitary strike cut their lead to just one point.

🎙️ Kalidou Koulibaly sur Benzema :

« Nous avions déjà échangé et nous savions qu’il pouvait nous aider. Il va arriver avec une énorme motivation.

On fera tout pour qu’il soit dans les meilleures conditions et qu’il nous aide à atteindre nos objectifs. »pic.twitter.com/u71C0jlLzo

— SPL 🇸🇦 (@ActuSPL) February 2, 2026

Notwithstanding the slim points gap, Koulibaly, who played an important role in Senegal’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations win, remains confident of clinching the title.

“It’s our dream to give everything to the fans, every time when we play, we want to make the fans happy , we want to work for them and Insha Allah we are going to work for this and everything is in the hand of Allah,” he said.

“It’s good that we didn’t lose the game [against Al Ahli], we don’t look at other teams, we look at our work [and] we are going to take game after game and to win every game to be champions Insha Allah.”

Former France international Karim Benzema has been roped in to boost Al Hilal’s attacking line and Koulibaly believes the former Real Madrid attacker’s experience will benefit the club.

Karim Benzema is officially Hilali ✍️💙 pic.twitter.com/7YX5STm2z9

— AlHilal Saudi Club (@Alhilal_EN) February 2, 2026

“We know that he can help us [and] Alhamdulillah, he will come with a lot of motivation [and] we know that he is a very nice player, a legend so we are going to make everything for him to be good in Al Hilal and help us.”

The 34-year-old defender led his club to the Saudi Pro League title in the 2023/24 season after joining from English Premier League club Chelsea.

He previously played for Metz, Genk and Napoli and has over one hundred international caps, a feat that has helped Senegal lift two Africa Cup of Nations titles in 2021 and 2025.

The Senegal national team veteran has played nine games as the Blue Waves sit on top of the current campaign with 47 points, just one above Al Nassr and three points ahead of Al Ahli after 19 league games played.