Manchester City eliminated by Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal, a thunderbolt at the Club World Cup

An improbable spectacle and an improbable result: the Saudi team Al-Hilal overturned Manchester City and its armada of stars, at the end of extra time (4-3), to reach the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup, Monday, June 30, in Orlando (Florida), United States.

It was in the ^112th minute of an extra time as crazy as the previous ninety minutes that Brazilian Marcos Leonardo gave his team victory, rewarded for all his efforts, his state of mind, his game consisting of laser-like projections forward as if his life depended on it. Virtues that already bear the mark of Simone Inzaghi, who arrived on the bench less than a month ago.

The Italian coach is experiencing an unexpected emotional rollercoaster, having just left Inter Milan with his head bowed after the humiliation he suffered in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain (0-5). This contrasts sharply with the dull image left by his former players earlier in the afternoon, who were ingloriously eliminated by Fluminense (0-2).

While everyone expected Manchester City to challenge the Brazilian club in the next round on Friday, still in Orlando, it is finally Al-Hilal who will have this well-deserved honor. The humiliation must be very hard on the side of the Emirati owner of the Citizens to be eliminated in this way, by a Saudi club, whose colony of foreign players does not have the luster of the Mancunian bigwigs. The latter thought they were going to have a quiet evening all the better since they opened the score quite early through Bernardo Silva (0-1, ^10th ) and they had a few chances to double the lead, notably through Ilkay Gundogan and Josko Gvardiol in quick succession ( ^29th ).

Al-Hilal, despite being without their injured captain, striker Salem Al-Dawsari, who has been in the spotlight since the start of the competition, came out on top, coming close to equalising after a superb team move, if it hadn't been for his header missed by Marcos Leonardo ( ^43rd ). The warning didn't last long for Manchester, as after the break the Brazilian striker made up for it by powering the ball into the net (1-1, ^46th ) after a defensive error by the Sky Blues, which led to another one which his compatriot Malcolm took advantage of to give the Saudi team an unexpected advantage (2-1, ^52nd ).

Certainly not for long, as three minutes later, Erling Haaland took advantage of a defensive wait-and-see situation to equalize (2-2, ^55th ). Having become completely unbridled, the match went into extra time. A formidable feat already for Al-Hilal, who would call for others.

Senegal's Kalidou Koulibaly gave his team the lead again with a header (3-2, ^94th ) from a corner, before Phil Foden equalized again for the Citizens, after superb work from former Lyon player Rayan Cherki who came on as a substitute (3-3, ^114th ). Marcos Leonardo then took advantage of the opposition's nervousness to seal the score, a disconcerting result, on the scoreboard.

With their 5-2 showdown against Juventus in the group stage, Manchester City seemed to have rediscovered their game after a poor first half that seemed to mark a decline in the Pep Guardiola era. After this latest setback, a major reassessment seems essential.