Al Hilal's road to the quarter-finals: highlights and key moments

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One of four Asian sides that qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, Saudi Arabian giants Al Hilal were the only AFC outfit to progress from the group stage. Undefeated from their four matches, they held European royalty Real Madrid C.F. to an eye-catching 1-1 draw in their opener before stunning Manchester City in the Round of 16.

Next up is a showdown with Brazilian powerhouse Fluminense FC in Orlando on 4 July, with a place in the semi-finals on the line. Here, FIFA details the path the Blues have taken to the last eight, a road that has seen them trail for only 44 minutes and which has featured some great saves and fine goals.

Group Stage (Group H)

Real Madrid C.F. 1-1 Al Hilal

The mid-afternoon opener in Miami was where Al Hilal first made people sit up and realise that they were not merely at the tournament to make up the numbers. Having conceded a 34th-minute opener to Gonzalo Garcia, the match was then a tale of two penalties. Ruben Neves restoring parity for the Blues just shy of the break and then the impressive Yassine Bounou thwarting Federico Valverde from the spot in the second half to see the spoils shared.

FC Salzburg 0-0 Al Hilal

Four days later, Washington D.C. was the venue for a clash that ended scoreless but which wasn't short on chances. Both Joao Cancelo and Marcos Leonardo coming close in the opening stanza for an Al Hilal side that were once again indebted to Bounou. The keeper making a string of fine saves to preserve their undefeated start.

Al Hilal 2-0 CF Pachuca

That set up a final-day showdown with CF Pachuca in Nashville, where Simone Inzaghi's men knew that only a draw would potentially be enough to advance. Even with maximum points though they were relying on Real Madrid to defeat Salzburg over in Philadelphia. With Xabi Alonso's side doing just that, Hilal also got what was needed at GEODIS Park, with a fine, looping opener from Salem Al Dawsari being capped by a late settler from Marcos Leonardo.

Round of 16

Manchester City 3-4 (a.e.t.) Al Hilal

One of the games of the tournament then followed as the Blues won a seven-goal thriller in Orlando. Without injured captain Al Dawsari and key central defender Hassan Al Tambakti, many expected Hilal to struggle. After they fell behind in just the ninth minute, those fears were looking real, only for Marcos Leonardo and then Malcolm to strike within the first nine minutes of the second half to put them 2-1 up. Manchester City struck back to force things to extra time where Kalidou Koulibaly put them in front again, only for City to peg things back once more. A see-sawing epic was finally settled as Marcos Leonardo grabbed his second of the evening late on to spark rapturous scenes among the healthy number of traveling supporters.