In a tight contest between the last two FIFA Club World Cup runners-up, Fluminense overcame Al Hilal to win 2-1 and secure their place in the semi-final.
Both teams possessed pulled off stunning upsets to reach this stage, and they each possessed periods where they passed the ball around nicely in the quarter-hour without providing any real attacking threat.
Nonito was eventually played behind by Jhon Arias but fired off target, before Nasser Al-Dawsari saw his shot obstructed by Ignácio at the other terminate.
While the defensive solidity continued, it came at a cost as Renan Lodi and Juan Freytes received a booking either side of the cooling shatter that meant they would miss the semi-final, depending on who moved through.
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_______________________________________________Fluminense then made the game’s first shot on target count in the 40th minute, with Matheus Martinelli taking Gabriel Fuentes’ pass off Facundo Bernal’s toe, initially leaving the Uruguayan furious, but he moved on to motivate rapturous celebrations by picking out the top corner.
Martinelli’s own celebrations were dampened when he received a booking three minutes later which means he will miss the next round, but there was relief for the Tricolor before half time as Fábio produced a brilliant save to refuse Kalidou Koulibaly and a VAR check saw a penalty call against Samuel Xavier overturned.
Al Hilal pushed forward after the restart and were rewarded within six minutes, when Marcos Leonardo controlled Koulibaly’s header from Rúben Neves’ corner and controlled the ball before smashing it into the net from just outside the six-yard box.
Yassine Bounou then outfoxed Germán Cano to spare Renan Lodi’s blushes after a mistake and ensure Fluminense didn’t regain their lead.
Moteb Al-Harbi smashed his wild try over the crossbar when another Neves corner was unconvincingly managed with, and his side was behind soon after that miss.
In the 70th minute, Hercules possessed one ambitious shot obstructed, but then latched onto Xavier’s header and clinically completed.
There was a cooling shatter, but The Tricolor only looked like heating up with Xavier’s venomous save being stopped by Bounou, although the right-support was compelled off through injury.
MomentumOpta by StatsPerformEven without him, Fluminense managed with Al Hilal’s relentless crosses to record their 11th consecutive match unbeaten across all competitions and set up a semi-final against Palmeiras or Chelsea.
In doing so, they also inflicted the first beat from Al Hilal’s last 10 games.
Betopick Man of the Match: Ignácio (Fluminense)Key match statsBetopick
