Al-Hilal restored their continental standing by handing Shabab Al-Ahli their first defeat of this season's AFC Champions League Elite.
The Saudi side beat their UAE opponents 2-0 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on Tuesday, in the fourth round of the Asian tournament's league stage.
Ollie Watkins broke the deadlock after just six minutes. The English striker latched onto a pass from Senegalese teammate Kalidou Koulibaly and placed the ball into the net.
Italian head coach Simone Inzaghi soon ran into trouble, though, forced into two substitutions inside the first 34 minutes.
The first came in the 28th minute. Inzaghi brought on right-back Mohammed Mahzari for his compatriot Sabri Dahl, even though Dahl showed no obvious sign of injury.
Six minutes later, the Italian had to replace Frenchman Saimon Bouabre with Nasser Al-Dawsari after Bouabre picked up a knock while breaking forward with the ball in midfield.
None of it slowed Al-Hilal down. Watkins struck again in the first minute of the second half, turning a diagonal ball from Turkish defender Yusuf Akcicek into the net for his and his team's second.
Al-Hilal are back to winning ways in the AFC Champions League Elite after their shock 3-1 loss to Qatar's Al-Shamal in the previous round.
Victory lifted them to nine points, second in the West group and three behind leaders Al-Ain on 12.
Shabab Al-Ahli, meanwhile, tasted defeat for the first time in this year's tournament. They stay on nine points, down in fourth place in the West group.