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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial |
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ARTICLE VIEW: |
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2 min read |
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Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal ‘had to climb Mount Everest without |
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oxygen’ in shock Club World Cup win over Manchester City |
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By George Ramsay, CNN |
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Updated: |
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10:28 AM EDT, Tue July 1, 2025 |
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Source: CNN |
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Simone Inzaghi has only been head coach of for a matter of weeks, but |
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already he has led the Saudi Arabian side to the quarterfinals of the . |
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Al-Hilal secured a spot in the last eight of the tournament in |
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sensational fashion with a dramatic 4-3 victory against Manchester City |
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on Monday, scoring twice in extra-time to produce arguably the biggest |
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shock of the Club World Cup so far. |
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Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo scored the decisive goal in the 112th |
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minute – his second of the game after Phil Foden had equalized for |
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Man City. |
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Inzaghi, who only recently oversaw Inter Milan’s against , showered |
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his players with praise after the match. |
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“The key to this result was the players, and the heart they put on |
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the pitch tonight,” he said, per . “We had to do something |
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extraordinary because we all know Manchester City, that team. |
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“We had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen and we made it. All the |
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players were exceptional in everything, in the possession phase, the |
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non-possession phase.” |
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Bernardo Silva bundled in the first goal of the game at Orlando’s |
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Camping World Stadium inside 10 minutes, setting up what many expected |
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to be a routine victory for the Premier League side. |
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But Leonardo leveled the match at the start of the second half when he |
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headed in Rúben Dias’ block, before Malcom’s breakaway goal |
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moments later gave Al-Hilal a 2-1 lead. |
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The advantage was short-lived with Erling Haaland scoring from a |
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corner, and the game remained at 2-2 for the rest of the 90 minutes |
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after Haaland had an attempt cleared off the line by Ali Lajami. |
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Kalidou Koulibaly’s header put Al-Hilal back into the lead in |
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extra-time, but substitutes Rayan Cherki and Foden combined to send the |
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match to a thrilling conclusion. And that came courtesy of Leonardo’s |
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winner when Sergej Milinković-Savić’s header was saved by Ederson |
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into his path. |
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Al-Hilal will now face Brazilian side Fluminese in the Club World Cup |
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quarterfinals having ended a 20-game winless run for Asian teams |
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against European opponents in FIFA club competitions. |
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“We knew that it would be a difficult game against one of the best |
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teams in the world and we wanted to show our ideas, our talents and our |
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power,” said Koulibaly, per . |
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“We made a very good game; we took our chances so we can be happy. We |
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wanted to show that Al-Hilal have the power and the talent to be here |
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and we showed a great mentality.” |
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