Al Hilal head coach Simeone Inzaghi has said his side deserved to beat Manchester City in early Tuesday morning’s thrilling fixtures.
The Premier League giants side were beaten 4-3 in extra time after a thrilling encounter to exit the Club World Cup at the round of 16 stage.
City were left to rue lots of missed chances as they failed to add to Bernardo Silva’s ninth-minute opener before Marcos Leonardo and Malcom turned the game around.
Erling Haaland sent the game to extra time but City needed another equaliser from Phil Foden after Kalidou Koulibaly headed the Saudi Arabian outfit back in front.
City, who were repeatedly caught on the break, could not regain the initiative and Leonardo secured a major upset – and a statement victory for Saudi football – with 112 minutes on the clock.
“The key to this result was the players, the heart they put on the pitch.
“We had to do something extraordinary because we knew how good Manchester City are, we knew we had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen and we were great.
“Guardiola is the best coach in the world but tonight we did our best and we deserved the result.”
Also Read: 2025 CWC: Man City Will Find Al Hilal Tough To Beat –Guardiola
Al Hilal have now joined Palmeiras, Chelsea, Fluminense, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals
They will take on Brazilian heavyweights Fluminense in the last eight on July 4th. Fluminense saw off Inter Milan 2-0 in their round of 16 encounter on Monday.
The closest Al Hilal came to winning the FIFA Club World Cup was in the 2023 edition when they reached the final but lost 5-3 to Real Madrid.
