BREAKING: Greatest Surprise As Al Hilal Eliminate Manchester City From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal produced one of the Club World Cup’s greatest shocks on Monday night, defeating treble-winning Manchester City out of contention 4-3 in extra time in Orlando.
It was a match of legends with turns of fate, passion, determination and pure emotion. And when the referee’s whistle went for the final time, it was Riyadh blue not Manchester, that was cheering the loudest in victory.
City, the favourites, seized the initiative in the 9th minute when Bernardo Silva netted after a controversial pass by Rayan Ait-Nouri, which players of Al Hilal insisted was a handball. But the referee upheld it.
Despite dominating much of the first half, Pep Guardiola’s men were wasteful in front of goal. Jeremy Doku and Silva both failed to beat Yassine Bounou, who stood like a wall in Al Hilal’s post.
That wastefulness would come back to haunt them.
Just seconds into the second half, Marcos Leonardo struck the equaliser after a scramble in City’s box. Six minutes later, Malcolm tore through City’s high line and made it 2-1 with a cool finish.
City fought back. Erling Haaland smashed in the equaliser after a corner chaos, and they came close to winning it late in regular time — only for Ali Lajami to clear Haaland’s goal-bound effort off the line.
Extra time brought more fireworks.
Kalidou Koulibaly powered in a header from Ruben Neves’ corner to put Al Hilal ahead again. But City replied instantly with Phil Foden scoring from a ridiculous angle, levelling it at 3-3.
Yet the night belonged to Marcos Leonardo.
After Ederson saved a close-range header, the Brazilian pounced on the rebound to slot home his second goal — and Al Hilal’s winner.
Tears flowed as he celebrated. “My mother spent 70 days in ICU,” he told reporters after the game. “She’s fine now, thank God. I thought of her when I scored those goals. She watched this match.”
City’s captain Bernardo Silva admitted they lost control. “They ran at us too many times. When we don’t stop teams from countering, we always suffer. And today, we suffered,” he said.
With that result, Al Hilal now march into the quarter-finals, where they’ll face Brazil’s Fluminense.
