Pep Guardiola’s team suffered a dramatic 4-3 defeat in extra time, with Marcos Leonardo netting the decisive goal—his second of the match—in the 112th minute. ..Continue Reading
Former Barcelona winger Malcom and ex-Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly also found the net for Simone Inzaghi’s side at Camping World Stadium, while Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, and Phil Foden scored for City in a losing effort.
Al Hilal were clinical, converting four of their six shots on target, and will now face Brazilian side Fluminense in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Despite a wave of high-profile players joining Saudi clubs since Ronaldo’s landmark move to Al Nassr, the league has continued to face skepticism on the global stage.
However, this upset has reignited discussion around Ronaldo’s bold claim that the Saudi Pro League deserves to be ranked among the world’s elite competitions.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo has constantly praised the level and in December, at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, he said that the Saudi Pro League would soon “be in the top three or four [leagues] in the world”.
Ronaldo also claimed that Ligue 1 was worse than the Saudi Pro League, saying the “rest is finished” after dominant champions Paris Saint-Germain, who “nobody competes” with.
In a new interview with Al Nassr’s channels after extending his stay with the Riyadh club by penning a new £340m deal, Ronaldo doubled down on previous comments and said his view has not changed.
“Only the people who never played in Saudi [criticise the league],” Ronaldo said, as per The Telegraph.
“They don’t understand nothing [sic] about football and say this league is not in the top five. I believe 100 per cent in my words and the people who play in this league, they know what I am talking about.
“So this is why I want to stay because I believe in the project.”
Al Hilal made headlines in the group stage of the FIFA Club World Cup by holding 15-time European champions Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw and playing out a goalless stalemate with Red Bull Salzburg, before sealing a 2-0 win over Pachuca to advance to the knockout rounds.
The Saudi club has invested heavily in recent years, spending close to £400 million on new signings. Among those acquisitions was Neymar, whose £77.6 million move has been underwhelming due to injuries.
Other high-profile additions include Ruben Neves, Renan Lodi, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Aleksandar Mitrović, Yassine Bounou, and João Cancelo.
Simone Inzaghi, who took charge of Al Hilal shortly after leaving Inter Milan following their Champions League campaign, has enjoyed a strong start in his new role and praised his squad for their remarkable performance.
“The key to this result was the players, the heart they put on the pitch,” he said after the triumph.
“We had to do something extraordinary because we knew how good Manchester City are, we knew we had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen and we were great. Guardiola is the best coach in the world but we did our best and we deserved the result.”
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