Video: a blue classico par excellence: Al-Hilal put on a show with a hat-trick against Al-Ahli and top the league

Violence was present in the summit clash

Al-Hilal thrashed Al-Ahli 3-0 in a thrilling clash at the Kingdom Arena on Tuesday evening, in a fixture postponed from the third round of the Roshn Saudi Pro League.

Al-Hilal came flying out of the blocks, launching wave after wave at the Al-Ahli goal. The pressure told in the ninth minute, when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opened the scoring.

The hosts kept their foot on the throat of a badly sagging Al-Ahli, who barely threatened Yassine Bounou.

On 23 minutes, Crysencio Summerville doubled the lead and ramped up the pressure on the visitors.

Al-Ahli looked a touch sharper after the break and mustered a timid effort at goal, but Bounou was equal to it.

As the half wore on, Al-Hilal seized control and poured forward, and new signing Ollie Watkins made it three in the 86th minute.

Four wins on the bounce take Al-Hilal to 12 points, top of the table on goal difference alone from runners-up Al-Nassr.

Al-Ahli, meanwhile, slip to seventh on 6 points. It's their second league defeat of the season, following the loss to Al-Kholood.

Crunching tackles flew in from both sides, and tempers boiled over into confrontations that dragged in members of both coaching staffs.

The flashpoint came in the closing minutes of the first half. A duel between Al-Hilal's Mohamed Mazhari and Al-Ahli's English striker Ivan Toney sparked it all, with Mazhari going down and claiming he'd been struck, and the referee booked Toney.

Demiral then marched over to Mazhari and yanked him hard by the shirt as he lay on the ground. The referee booked the defender and brandished a red card at a member of Al-Ahli's coaching staff for dissent.

Deep into stoppage time, on 45+7, Demiral picked up a second yellow and walked after a heavy challenge on Crysencio Summerville.