Stunned in Extra Time: Giants Fall at the FIFA Club World Cup

In a seismic upset that has rocked the football world, Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal delivered a historic 4-3 victory over English powerhouse Manchester City in extra time at the FIFA Club World Cup on Monday, June 30, 2025.

The result marks one of the most remarkable triumphs in Middle Eastern football history.

It also sends the Riyadh-based team into the quarter-finals, where they will face Brazilian side Fluminense.

What began as a tightly contested match exploded into a dramatic spectacle of resilience, precision, and spirit.

After regulation time ended 2-2, the match surged into extra time, where Marcos Leonardo emerged as the hero with a decisive strike that sealed City’s fate.

City looked to have control early on, opening the scoring in the ninth minute under contentious circumstances.

Bernardo Silva slotted the ball home after Rayan Ait-Nouri’s low cross, but Al Hilal players protested that Ait-Nouri had used his arm in the build-up.

Despite the appeals, the goal stood.

The Premier League champions had several chances to widen the gap before the break.

However, a combination of erratic finishing and brilliant saves by Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou ensured the score remained unchanged.

City’s Jeremy Doku volleyed straight at Bounou before another fine stop from the shot-stopper denied Bernardo again.

City’s wastefulness in front of goal would come back to haunt them.

Barely a minute into the second half, former City full-back Joao Cancelo sent a low cross into the box.

Ederson’s parry fell to Malcolm, whose shot was blocked by Ruben Dias, only for the ball to loop perfectly to Marcos Leonardo, who nodded in the equaliser.

Within six minutes, Al Hilal had completed the turnaround.

Another long ball from Cancelo sliced through City’s high defensive line, releasing Malcolm.

With blistering pace and composure, the Brazilian surged forward and calmly slotted past Ederson, sending the Saudi crowd into a frenzy.

Reacting swiftly, Pep Guardiola made a triple substitution, bringing on Rodri, Nathan Ake, and Manuel Akanji to stabilize a rattled defense.

The changes helped City regain their footing, and they found an equaliser through a scrappy finish from Erling Haaland, capitalizing on a loose ball after a Bernardo corner to make it 2-2.

City poured forward in search of a winner.

But again, Bounou proved an immovable wall, denying efforts from Akanji and Dias, and when Haaland did beat him, Ali Lajami was on hand with a goal-line clearance of the highest quality.

As the match went into extra time, Guardiola replaced Haaland with Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush, hoping fresh legs would break the deadlock.

However, Al Hilal’s spirit proved unshakable.

Just four minutes into extra time, Kalidou Koulibaly rose above the City defense to meet a Ruben Neves corner with a powerful, angled header to restore the Saudi side’s lead.

City responded with a touch of brilliance. Rayan Cherki floated a delightful ball to the back post, where Phil Foden, at full stretch and an acute angle, poked it home to level again at 3-3.

But Al Hilal were not done.

In a heart-stopping sequence, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s header was saved by Ederson, but Marcos Leonardo was quickest to react.

He bundled the rebound over the line for his second of the match—and the ultimate match-winner.

As the final whistle blew, Al Hilal fans erupted in joy, and Marcos Leonardo was overcome with emotion:

“I’ve had a difficult time in the last two months.

“My mother spent 70 days in the ICU,” he said.

“Today she’s fine, thank God.

“When I scored those two goals, I thought of her.

“She was able to watch the match.”

For Manchester City, it was a bitter defeat and a lesson in missed chances and defensive lapses.

Bernardo Silva summed up the disappointment:

“We scored three and could’ve scored five, six.

“It was all about controlling when we lost the ball, controlling the transitions, don’t let them run, and they ran way too many times,” he said.

“With one, two passes there was always a feeling of danger coming from them.

“When we allow teams to run like this we always suffer a lot, and today was the case.”

The result not only ends City’s Club World Cup hopes but also underscores the rise of Middle Eastern football, with Al Hilal now just one win away from reaching the semi-finals.

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