Man City knocked out of Club World Cup by Al-Hilal after seven-goal thriller

Phil Foden, who scored City’s third in extra time, looks shocked after the final whistle - Reuters/Lee Smith

Manchester City 3 Al-Hilal 4 (after extra-time)

The Club World Cup finally had its day of shocks – and none greater than Manchester City’s elimination by the Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, in the kind of defeat that will give Pep Guardiola great cause for concern as his team return to prepare for the new season.

Somehow, in this Gulf clash between Saudi’s most famous team and the English club owned by an Abu Dhabi royal, City conspired to come off worse over seven goals. The extra-time winner from the young Brazilian Marcos Leonardo, his second of the game, was just another example of how fragile City were defensively all night. A team who thrive on control were picked off on the counterattack again and again.

In the quarter-final in Orlando on Friday, Al-Hilal will face Brazilian side Fluminense, who beat Inter Milan earlier in the day. The Europeans are starting to fall, although it will be the nature of this defeat that will most trouble Guardiola. They have sacrificed a summer of rest to come to the United States and have not even made the last eight.

The returning Ballon d’Or winner Rodri came on in the second half as City went from a goal up to 2-1 behind, but he was later substituted himself. In his place came Phil Foden, who scored City’s second equaliser of the night at 3-3. Earlier Erling Haaland had brought it back to 2-2. But after missing so many first-half chances, City just looked strung out. There was not a moment after half-time when they did not look vulnerable on the counterattack.

Rodri looked to have suffered a setback in his comeback from injury - Getty Images/Chris Brunskill

A stunning result for Al-Hilal’s new manager Simone Inzaghi, fresh from that hiding from PSG in the Champions League final with Inter Milan a few weeks ago. It was Inzaghi in charge of Inter too when they lost to City in the Champions League final two years previous. He certainly had the measure of City this time and unleashed his fast attackers to great effect.

“Tonight we had to do something extraordinary,” Inzaghi said. “We knew how good Manchester City are. We knew we had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen.”

In the aftermath Guardiola sought to play down the result, with the kind of resignation one might expect for a defeat to Liverpool or Arsenal. Although there was an admission that City were very easy to counter. “We were so open,” he said. “They had the ability to pass the ball and attack and they have quick players. We created a lot and had a lot of chances against a team that defend so deep. They punished us on the transitions.”

Guardiola was generous about the performance of Al-Hilal’s goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou – or Bono – one of Morocco’s 2022 World Cup heroes. Mindful of the damage it might do, he sought to minimise the scope of this defeat.

Pep Guardiola was furious with referee Jesus Valenzuela Saez - Getty Images/Patricia de Melo Moreira

“It is a pity,” Guardiola said. “We have been on an incredible journey together and in such a good place. The vibe was really good. I cannot thank Manchester City enough and especially the players for training and how they have been playing. The margins are minimal. They ran into transitions a bit, but we created a lot. Bono made incredible saves. We would have loved to have continued, only here once every four years, we had a feeling that the team is doing well but we go home and now it is time to rest and rest our minds for the new season.”

It is the quality of that rest and how this tournament will impact on the season that will worry Guardiola. Many of his players look jaded and they now have to re-conquer English football. Ruben Dias looked badly off the pace and unsuited to the high line which City played. It was not a good night for the new signing Rayan Ait-Nouri who looked susceptible on the counter.

Erling Haaland pulled City level in the second half and it looked like order would be restored - Getty Images/Patricia de Melo Moreira

Guardiola said that Rodri requested to come off and others struggled in the heat too. Haaland chased until he could do so no longer and was replaced by Omar Marmoush for extra time. Even so this was undoubtedly a shock against a Saudi team who finished second last season in their domestic league and have only had Inzaghi in charge for a matter of weeks. The European contingent in the Al-Hilal team gave them a solid base: Ruben Neves, the Portuguese former Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder and the Serb Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

It was an extraordinary game that looked early on like it would go according to expectations when Bernardo scored in the ninth minute. City were lucky – a handball in the build up by Ait-Nouri went unpunished by the Venezuelan referee Jesus Valenzuela Sáez. It did not even seem to merit a VAR review and the Al-Hilal players were incensed. They appeared at one point to be refusing to restart the game. So much so that referee Valenzuela Sáez felt obliged to deliver an explanation in English over the stadium’s public address system – one that did not necessarily clear matters up. Later, after Haaland’s equaliser he would inadvertently press the same switch again and broadcast his laboured breathing and abrupt instructions to his assistants for a few seconds.

Bernardo Silva, scorer of the opener after nine minutes, is chopped down by Kaio Cesar - AP/John Raoux

City should have killed the tie in the first half. Savinho, Ilkay Gundogan and Jeremy Doku, his side’s most vibrant attacker, all had chances to do so. But Inzaghi switched his team to a more confident counter-attacking stance at half-time. He had spotted the high City line and he had the players to exploit it. There was Leonardo, a 22-year-old from Santos, via Benfica, and 28-year-old Malcom, once of Barcelona and well-travelled in Europe.

For eight minutes the pair of them tore City apart. It was Malcom who made the incursion for the equaliser and then the former City full-back Joao Cancelo who delivered the cross, eventually popping up for Leonardo to head in with Ederson stranded. Soon after Al-Hilal turned a City attacking corner into a surgical counter and Malcom went through to beat Ederson.

Leonardo scores the first of his two goals with a header - Getty Images/Megan Briggs

A remarkable turn of events, and although Haaland would equalise soon after, a finish at the second attempt in the box as the ball broke to him, City’s control would never be the same again. Dias would foul Malcom in another run through the middle that demonstrated the dysfunction in the City defence. The Brazilian was very marginally offside and it saved Dias. A superb recovery tackle on Malcom by the substitute Manuel Akanji just after the hour saved City.

Guardiola had made changes just before the second Al-Hilal goal – Akanji, Nathan Ake and Rodri all coming on. When the game went to extra-time, Guardiola would throw on Marmoush in place of Haaland and Rayan Cherki for Tijjani Reijnders. Then later, behind once again, he substituted Rodri after 48 minutes to bring on Foden. City went behind early in extra-time. Ruben Neves’s corner headed in very gracefully by Kalidou Koulibaly, once briefly a Chelsea defender.

Foden got the equaliser from Cherki’s ball but Al-Hilal were undeterred. It was Renan Lodi’s cross, headed on by Milinkovic-Savic that was finished by Leonardo for the winner.

Sam Wallace

Pep Guardiola is adamant he does not need to change – this season is the acid test

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