Al Hilal starred in one of the biggest surprises of the Club World Cup on Monday (30) by eliminating Manchester City with a 4-3 win, completed in extension.
The Saudi Arabia team had three Brazilian goals to reach the quarterfinals, in which they will face just an opponent from Brazil, Fluminense.
The duel against the Rio team will be next Friday (4), at 15h (Brasília), in Orlando, on the same stage where Marcos Leonardo, with two goals, and Malcom shone before the club led by Pep Guardiola.
The team run by the Spaniard ended up paying dearly for the waste of chances in the first half, when they dominated the actions, but scored only one goal with Bernardo Silva, nine minutes.
Saudi players still complained of a touch of hand at the origin of the play, but the Venezuelan referee Jesús Valenzuela ordered the game to follow after the VAR analyzes the move for almost three minutes.
In addition to opening the scoring early, City forced goalkeeper Bounou to make at least seven defenses – some of a high degree of difficulty – that prevented the English team from building a more comfortable advantage.
Although not limited to being in defense, the Saudi team did not require any intervention from Ederson in the early stage. The few times it managed to get close to the Brazilian goalkeeper area, Al Hilal wasted their submission.
The history of the second half was quite different. With an overwhelming start, the Saudi team sought the turn in just six minutes.
First, Malcom made a big individual move, took the ball to the large area and touched João Cancelo. The Portuguese crossed low and, after a beating, the ball was left to Marcos Leonardo headed for the goal.
Then it was the turn of the former Corinthians player to leave his mark. At six minutes, he pulled a counterattack, carried the ball from midfield and hit the low to beat Ederson.
City, however, reacted quickly. At nine minutes, after a corner kick, Haaland, who was missing in the game, appeared to draw. First, he tried to dodge his head, but missed the target. The ball countered in defense and returned to Norwegian himself, who stretched his leg and pushed to the net.
The two teams continued to look for the goal – City prowling the opponent area and Al Hilal betting on rapid counterattacks. The draw, however, persisted until the end of regular time, forcing the dispute of extension.
In the first 15 extra minutes, the two teams shared the nets again. This time, the Saudi team came out ahead, with defender Koulibaly, who scored headlong after a corner kick after four minutes.
Ten minutes later, the English team tied again, with Phil Foden, who received launch in the large area and finished cross.
In the second half of the extension, only Al Hilal managed to swing the net again, again with Marcos Leonardo, who decreed the victory and Saudi classification.
