Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal delivered the biggest upset of the Club World Cup so far on Monday, beating Manchester City 4-3 after extra time in a statement win for the competition’s last remaining team from outside Europe or South America.
City got off to a strong start with a goal from Bernardo Silva after just nine minutes, though Al-Hilal had their quibbles with the strike. There was a group of players from both sides just feet from goal when the ball entered their vicinity, and the ball essentially ricocheted off of Ilkay Gundogan before falling to Silva and allowing him to score from close range. Al-Hilal players and staff protested that there was a handball but after some heated on-field discussions, the goal stood.
The English side continued to dominate in the first half, taking the game to a defense-minded Al-Hilal before the break with nine shots, seven on target and 2.08 expected goals. Al-Hilal goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, though, was up for the task and made six saves before the halftime whistle blew.
It was a different story in the second half, though, with Al-Hilal coming up with an equalizer within a minute of the restart thanks to Marcos Leonardo. Joao Cancelo whipped a ball into the box that Ederson initially got a touch on, but the ball then bounced back and forth until it landed to Leonardo, whose light header surprisingly got the better of the City goalkeeper despite a lack of pace on the ball.
Six minutes later, Al-Hilal took the lead for the first time in the match. They went on a counter and eventually, Cancelo sent the ball Malcom’s way, who then went on a long run before slotting the ball into the back of the net with a shot from distance.
That lead was short-lived, though, with Erling Haaland bagging an equalizer for City just three minutes later. City earned a corner and though it did not land straight in Haaland’s path, the Norway international did well to follow the ball despite the frenzy in the penalty area and he eventually scored from close range.
After ending regulation even at 2-2, things really broke loose in the extra 30 minutes. Al-Hilal struck first, with Kalidou Koulibaly giving his side a 3-2 lead with a header off a corner in the 94th minute. The call-and-response nature of the match continued with City’s equalizer 10 minutes later courtesy of substitute Phil Foden, who managed a cool finish off of Rayan Cherki’s stellar cross into the box.
The final goal in a seven goal thriller came eight minutes from the final whistle as Leonardo got the final touch on a ball, even if it appeared to be an accidental one. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s header was saved by Ederson, but the ball went straight back into play and even though Leonardo was falling, he gets the right touch on the ball and sends it past Ederson and straight into the back of the net.
City were dominant throughout with 30 shots to Al-Hilal’s 17, putting 14 on target along the way and 4.21 expected goals to their opponent’s 3.16, but were outdone by a strong performance from Bounou, who made 11 saves in total, as well as their own defensive lapses. It means they officially end the season trophy-less for the first time since 2016, which was Pep Guardiola’s first campaign in charge of the club.
As for Al-Hilal, it marks a statement moment for the Saudi club game after the Public Investment Fund poured billions of dollars into a handful of clubs, lining up high-profile players and managers along the way. Though attempts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and N’Golo Kante in time for the Club World Cup never came to fruition, they did hire manager Simone Inzaghi with weeks to go until their first game at the competition, who got the better of Guardiola two years after his Inter side lost to City in the UEFA Champions League final.
Al-Hilal will play Fluminense, another surprise winner on Monday after they defeated Inter 2-0, in the quarterfinals on Friday in Orlando.
