EUROPEAN favourites Manchester City and Inter Milan have been knocked out of the FIFA Club World Cup following upset defeats in the round of 16 to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and Brazil’s Fluminense respectively.
Defending champions Manchester City were knocked out of the Club World Cup after being stunned in extra-time by Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal 4-3 in an incredible seven-goal thriller in the early hours of today.
Pep Guardiola’s side had come through the group stages unscathed but failed to reach the quarter-finals after conceding four times in a haphazard defensive display.
City have been fast starters in the competition and for the fourth game running, they opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes.
Captain Bernardo Silva swept home from close range after the opposition defenders failed to clear, but the Al Hilal players were left fuming as Rayan Ait-Nouri appeared to handle the ball in the build-up.
Goalkeeper Bono made big saves to deny Savinho and Ilkay Gundogan from close range, before showing sharp reflexes to tip Josko Gvardiol’s header over the crossbar.
At the other end, Al-Hilal found little joy in the opening 45 minutes, but just 44 seconds into the second half, Brazilian striker Marcos Leonardo was in the right place to head in the equaliser.
City were reeling when former Barcelona man Malcom ran clear to coolly convert and give Al Hilal a shock lead on 52 minutes, before Erling Haaland restored parity just three minutes later by poking in from a corner.
With time running out in a thoroughly entertaining contest, Manuel Akanji flicked a header against ... and Haaland saw his follow-up effort sensationally cleared off the line by Ali Lajami.
The match went into extra-time and Al
Hilal thought they had won it when former Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly powered in a header in the 94th minute, but substitute Phil Foden squeezed home a volley from an acute angle to keep City alive.
But Leonardo was the hero as he converted at the back post eight minutes from time to deliver a monumental result for the 2021 AFC Champions League winners.
Last night, Fluminense shocked Inter Milan with a 2-0 win to reach the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup, where they will face Man City’s conquerors Al Hilal.
Striker German Cano’s stooping header in the third minute put the Brazilian giants ahead early and substitute Hercules scored a curling edge-of-the-box shot against the run of play in a difficult last 25 minutes.
Inter’s star forward Lautaro Martinez had a series of chances to equalise before the second goal, including one against ... late on, while Federico Dimarco also came close to scoring from two free-kicks and had a close-range shot from a wide angle.
But the best chance fell to Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij after Martinez’s clever knockdown.
The match was played in front of a crowd of just 20,030 in the final match at the 74,867-capacity Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Fluminese join fellow Brazilian club Palmeiras in the quarter-finals and will face Al Hilal in the Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Friday.
With agency reports