England striker Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick as Al Ahli thrashed Abha 4-0 to make it two wins from two at the start of the new Saudi Pro League season.
It took Toney just five minutes to break the deadlock as he capitalised on some great work by new Armenian midfielder Eduard Spertsyan to sweep home.
It was 2-0 in under 10 minutes as Galeno was chopped down in the box and Toney dispatched the spot-kick.
The third arrived in spectacular fashion as Francisco Trincao scored his first goal in Saudi football. The Portugal winger picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and let fly with an unstoppable left-footed strike. Trincao then set up Toney for his third, with the Ahli striker powering home a shot after being fed inside the box.
It was his sixth SPL hat-trick, and he now has 58 goals in 64 games since his move from Brentford.
Elsewhere, Al Kholood scored three first-half goals and then held on to beat Al Taawoun 3-2. Scottish defender Jack Hendry scored the only goal as Al Ettifaq won 1-0 on the road at Al Fateh.
Ronaldo bags goal number 977
On Friday, Cristiano Ronaldo got his season up and running with his 977th career goal as he came off the bench to help Al Nassr to a 4-0 win over Al Riyadh.
Ronaldo was back in the match day squad for the first time since the World Cup and his recent wedding, but was named on the bench by new boss Ange Postecoglou.
The 41-year-old came on in the 62nd minute with his side already cruising at 3-0 up, thanks to goals from Abdulelah Al Amri, Angelo Gabriel and Joao Felix.
Ronaldo then scored a terrific goal as he collected a low cross and lost his man in one movement before sweeping the ball home.
The effort moved him closer to the 1,000-goal milestone and was his 130th goal for Al Nassr in all competitions.
“I said after last game that it was important for Cris to take his time to come back, because he was very, very busy obviously in the off-season,” Postecoglou said.
“His mentality is he always wants to play, but he made sure he did all the right things – at training he worked hard – and it was fantastic for him to get 30 minutes today.
“And he scores a goal, which just shows you the measure of the man.”
