Al Hilal stuns City in extra-time thriller

ORLANDO, Florida — Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal sent English giant Manchester City crashing out of the Club World Cup on Monday, snatching a shock 4-3 victory in extra time in what is, arguably, the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

The match finished 2-2 at fulltime, but at the end of an eventful extra time, Marcos Leonardo grabbed the winner and pulled off one of the greatest wins in Middle Eastern soccer history.

The Saudi club advances to the quarterfinals where it will face Brazilian club Fluminense, ensuring a non-European team will reach the final four.

City manager Pep Guardiola gave credit to Al Hilal, but clearly hadn't anticipated such an outcome.

"It is a pity, we have been on an incredible journey together and some good places. The vibe was really good, I cannot thank Manchester City enough, and especially the players for training and how they have been playing," he said.

"We would have loved to have continued, you can only be here once every four years, we had a feeling that the team is doing well, but we go home, and now, it is time to rest (for bodies) and our minds for the new season," he said.

City had taken the lead in the ninth minute in controversial fashion, when Bernardo Silva finished after meeting a Rayan Ait-Nouri cross.

Al Hilal players protested Ait-Nouri had controlled the ball with his arm in the buildup, but the goal stood.

City had plenty of opportunities to extend its lead before the break, but a combination of poor finishing and inspired goalkeeping from Moroccan keeper Yassine Bounou kept the lead to a single goal.

Al Hilal offered several reminders of its threat on the break, but City had even more chances, with Jeremy Doku volleying straight at Bounou, who moments later reacted superbly again to keep out a Silva effort.

Paying the price

The question as to whether City would live to regret not converting those chances was answered within a minute of the second half.

Former City fullback Joao Cancelo's low cross was parried away by Ederson in the City goal, Al Hilal midfielder Malcom pounced, but saw his shot blocked by Ruben Dias — only for the ball to loop to Leonardo to head home the equalizer.

Six minutes later, and City's high defensive line was exposed by a long ball from Cancelo, which Brazilian Malcom raced on to. He showed power and pace as he broke away before coolly slotting past Ederson.

The Saudi fans in the crowd went wild, while Guardiola responded immediately with a triple substitution with midfielder Rodri and defenders Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji sent on.

That brought some much needed stability to a shaky backline, but City needed improvement at the other end, too. The breakthrough came, albeit in scruffy circumstances.

The Al Hilal defense was unable to deal with a Silva corner, and Erling Haaland pounced to steer home the loose ball to make it 2-2.

City piled on the pressure as it looked for the winner, but, yet again, Bounou held strong between the Al Hilal sticks, denying Akanji and Dias. Even when Bounou was beaten by Haaland, substitute Ali Lajami produced a magnificent goal-line clearance.

Guardiola swapped out Haaland for Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush as the game moved into extra time.

But, for all City's depth of personnel, Al Hilal had a deeper well of spirit to draw upon, and just four minutes into the opening period it regained the lead when Kalidou Koulibaly rose superbly to meet a Ruben Neves corner with a brilliantly angled header.

City responded with a goal of real quality, when, following Rodri's departure and Phil Foden's introduction, Rayan Cherki's brilliantly floated ball towards the back post was poked home masterfully by Foden, at full stretch and from the tightest of angles.

Yet, incredibly, the Blue Waves were not finished — Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's header was saved by Ederson, but Leonardo followed up to bundle the ball over the line from a prone position.

As the celebrating Al Hilal fans poured out of the stadium, the Brazilian striker let his emotions pour out.

"I've had a difficult time in the last two months. My mother spent 70 days in the ICU," he said.

"Today, she's fine, thank God. When I scored those two goals, I thought of her. She was able to watch the match".

City skipper Silva said his team had paid the price for being unable to deal with Al Hilal's counterattack.

"We scored three and could've scored five, six. It was all about controlling when we lost the ball, controlling the transitions, not letting them run, and they ran way too many times," he said.

"With one, two passes there was always a feeling of danger coming from them. When we allow teams to run like this, we always suffer a lot, as was the case today."

Agencies