Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a hat-trick to help his team continue their perfect start to the Asian Champions League Elite with a 3-0 win over Iran's Esteghlal, although the Saudi side's evening was soured by a late injury to Neymar.

Mitrovic put Al-Hilal ahead at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena with a 15th-minute tap-in and doubled the advantage with another straightforward finish in the 33rd minute.

The former Fulham Striker completed his hat-trick with a 74th minute header into the bottom corner from Joao Cancelo's cross from the right.

The evening ended on a sour note for Al-Hilal when Neymar, who returned two weeks ago from a year out due to a ruptured cruciate ligament, was replaced 29 minutes after his introduction from the bench due to injury.

Both Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli have now won all four of their games in the league phase of the competition so far and opened up a four-point gap over third-placed Al-Sadd with fellow Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr a further point back in fourth.