Olaleye Idowu
Al Hilal manager, Simone Inzaghi has suggested why his team defeated Manchester City 4-3 in the Club World Cup Round of 16 tie in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Recall that Bernardo Silva gave Man City the lead in the opening minutes of the encounter.
Marcos Leonardo then equalised for Al Hilal in the second half before Malcom gave the Saudi Arabian club the lead in the 52nd minute.
Erling Haaland then restored parity for Pep Guardiola’s side to force the game into extra time.
Kalidou Koulibaly then headed in a corner-kick to give Al Hilal the lead in extra time, but Phil Foden equalised for the Premier League giants.
However, Leonardo’s second goal of the match, eight minutes from time, gave Inzaghi’s side the victory at the Camping World Stadium.
Speaking at his post-match interview, Inzaghi insisted that his players put in an “extraordinary” performance against the Cityzens.
“We knew we had to do something extraordinary if we were to beat Manchester City, and that is what the boys did tonight, the lads were simply wonderful,” Inzaghi said.
“We had to be extraordinary because,e well, Manchester City, we all know that team. So we had to climb Everest without oxygen to win the gam,e and we made it.
“We were great. All the players were exceptional in everything, in the possession phase, non-possession phase.”
Al Hilal will now face Fluminense in the quarter-final. The Brazilian side had defeated Inter Milan 2-0 on Monday night.
