Manchester City crashed out of the Club World Cup with a 4-3 defeat Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal on Monday, while Inter Milan were eliminated by Fluminense on a day of shock results.
Champions League runners-up Inter were dumped out 2-0 by Brazilian side Fluminense in Charlotte and Pep Guardiola’s City joined them after Marcos Leonardo’s brace left the Premier League giants on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller.
Al Hilal, who recorded one of the greatest results in Middle Eastern football history, will face Fluminense in Orlando on Friday in the quarter-finals.
City were the only side to win all three group matches, including a thrashing of Juventus, but came undone in Florida against an Al Hilal side filled with players who once starred for European teams.
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Guardiola’s team were the defending champions, having won the trophy in 2024 in its previous format, but were matched blow-for-blow by Al Hilal at the Camping World Stadium.
Former Inter coach Simone Inzaghi’s side showed their quality in the group stage as they held Spanish giants Real Madrid to a draw, but few expected they could derail City’s charge towards the trophy.
“We knew that it was a difficult game against one of the best teams in the world – we wanted to show our ideas, our talents, our power,” Al Hilal’s Kalidou Koulibaly said after the game.
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