"Our goal is to be tied to the same group as the best team in the world. We're not here just to have fun. I came to play the World Cup, and I wanted to get on top of this tournament."
This is what Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal's coach Simone Inzaghi said after winning 2-0 in the final group match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup against Pachuca on the 27th of last month to confirm his advance to the round of 16. Al Hilal was the only Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member to advance to the round of 16 in Group H with one win and two draws (five points) and an unbeaten run. He surprised the world with his power to draw 0-0 with Real Madrid as a "big club in Europe". Inzaghi, who left Inter Milan in June and took the helm of Al Hilal, made it clear that he did not intend to put significance on simple participation, while Al Hilal CEO Esteve Calzada also said emphatically that advancing to the round of 16 shows Al Hilal's ambition.
The round of 16 against Manchester City was a test of Al Hilal's ambitions. Al Hilal, founded in 1957, recently bought the world's best player in line with Saudi football's investment craze. In 2023, he signed Neymar, a Brazilian superstar who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, for 90 million euros, raising the profile of the Saudi league and the club. Under the ambition of someday being recognized as one of the world's top five leagues, Kalidou Koulibaly, Henan Lodge, Sergei Milinkovic-Savic, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Hoobeng Neves, João Cancelo and Bunu were recruited one after another to raise their power to the level of European big clubs. Before joining Al Hilal in January last year, he also devoted his heart to strengthening leadership by appointing Calzada, who served as chief commercial officer (CCO) at City Football Group, Manchester City's parent company, and Jagi, a master who experienced runner-up in the 2024-2025 European Champions League (UCL).
Al-Hilal lost face when he was eliminated from the semifinals of the Asian Champions League Elite (ACLE) last season under his predecessor Jorge Jesus, but he worked on the world stage just a month after taking the helm of Inzaghi. In the round of 16 of the Club World Cup against Manchester City in the English Premier League (EPL) big club held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, the U.S., on the 1st, he won 4-3 after extra time and scored a goal to advance to the quarterfinals. Al Hilal, who gave up the first run to Bernardu Silva in the 9th minute of the first half, quickly turned the game around with Leonardo's equalizer in the 1st minute of the second half and Malkong's come-from-behind goal in the 7th minute of the second half. In the 10th minute of the second half, Erling Holan was allowed to equalize and went into extra time with a 2-2 score. In the fourth minute of the first half of extra time, Koulibaly put Manchester City in a corner with a leading goal again. Phil Foden, who replaced him in the 14th minute of the first half of extra time, scored a goal again, but Leonardo scored the winning goal in the 7th minute of the second half of extra time. The number of shooters fell to 17 to 30 and the possession rate was 31 to 69, but thanks to goalkeeper Bunu's 10 saves and the offense's intensive scoring ability, he made the best surprise of the tournament. Al Hilal's total market value is 159.43 million euros (about 254 billion won), about one-eighth of Manchester City (1.33 billion euros, about 2.12 trillion won). Coach Inzaghi, who lost to Pep Guardiola's Man City in the UCL final of the 2022-2023 season and missed the championship, took revenge in two years. When Leonardo scored his fourth goal, the audience erupted in shouts of `In-honey, In-honey, In-honey, In-honey.' Director Inzaghi said, `Al-Hilal showed unwavering bravery. The real value we seek is to be the best."
Al Hilal is scheduled to play in the quarterfinals against Brazil's Fluminense, who beat Inter Milan 2-0 on the same field on the 5th. The winner of the match will meet the Chelsea-Paumeiras winner in the semifinals. The club World Cup, which has been reorganized into 32 teams, has a total prize money of $1 billion (about 1.266 trillion won) and a winning prize of $40 million (about 58 billion won).
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
