Inzaghi reveals: why did he substitute Martinelli early despite Al-Taawoun's hat-trick?

What did the Italian coach say after the six goals?

Simone Inzaghi has explained why he hauled off Gabriel Martinelli early, even after the Brazilian bagged a hat-trick against Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Roshn League.

Al-Hilal thrashed Al-Taawoun 6-0 on Saturday at the hosts' stadium in Buraidah, in the seventh round of the Saudi Roshn League.

Martinelli was the star of the show. He notched his first treble for Al-Hilal before Inzaghi replaced him with Saudi winger Sultan Mandash in the 54th minute.

Asked about the swap at the post-match press conference, in comments carried by the Saudi newspaper "Asharq Al-Awsat", Inzaghi said: "Martinelli arrived at a late stage and took part in only one training session before the Neom fixture. He is a player of a high level, and today we substituted him to give him a rest."

On leaving French midfielder Simon Bouabre out of the squad, the Italian added: "We have Theo Hernandez injured, and we had to choose between Bouabre and Yusuf (Akcicek), and in the end we preferred to choose Yusuf."

He was delighted with the performance. "We played an excellent match at a high level and with great focus. Another task awaits us in the Asian competition, and it is good to be in first place before the break."

Inzaghi concluded: "We played with the same group that took part against Neom, but we had a longer rest period than before, and so we prepared well for this fixture."

Al-Hilal are back in action on Tuesday against Qatar's Al-Gharafa at the Kingdom Arena, in the first round of the league phase of the AFC Champions League Elite.