Al-Hilal, the club that finished second at the points table of Saudi Pro League, defeated Manchester City in a neck to neck match on 1st July. The FIFA Club World Cup, where 32 teams from across FIFA confederations compete, Al-Hilal proved their point in this stage that they are more than just a team that plays in the Saudi League.
The question that we can see rising up in the global level of football is that “Can Saudi teams compete with European elites?”
Before Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr, the scene of Saudi Football was not put on an international level. There were no sponsors or broadcasting channels. Ronaldo made this diversion of Eurocentric football to the Saudi league. Following Ronaldo was Neymar Jr. He joined Al-Hilal. But the trendsetter was Ronaldo.
Al-Hilal recently signed Simone Inzaghi, former manager of Inter Milan. Inter Milan, who were the runners up of the UEFA Champions league, were also knocked out of the FIFA club world cup.
The first goal of the match was scored in the 9th minute itself by Manchester city’s Bernado Silva, who also lifted the Nations League trophy last month. But after the half time break, Manchester city lost its lead and Al-Hilal’s Marcos Leonardo scored the equalizer.
The match went to Extra time after the score of 2-2. And in the 94th minute, Ruben Neves scored a goal for Al-Hilal, which was soon equalized by Manchester City’s Phil Foden at 104th minute. But the goal that made Al-hilal prove their point was the one at 113th minute by Marcos Leonardo. Yassine Bounou of Al-Hilal made some extraordinary saves in the match. He truly is a blessing to the team. He denied Manchester City players to let their attempts to convert into goals.
The team of Al-Hilal was not expected to knock out a team like Manchester City who won the Treble just last season. Ballon D’or winner Rodri did not seem to be putting his best at this match.
Al-Hilal puts an end to the mockery that they play football just for the sake of playing it. They put together a good team and a good manager. It would be very interesting to watch the next matches of Al-Hilal. Would they keep up with their win? Or taking the victory to their head and losing it all?
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