"Today is a historic day for me, all of Saudi Arabia and the fans," Leonardo said. "This victory shows that players in Saudi Arabia don't shy away from challenges and they don't avoid football. There are great players there, and I'm very happy with what we achieved today."
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Leonardo scores in Al Hilal's 4-3 victory over Man City on the morning of 1/7. Photo: FIFA |
Leonardo scores in Al Hilal's 4-3 victory over Man City on the morning of 1/7. Photo: FIFA
At Camping World Stadium on the morning of 1/7, Al Hilal caused the biggest upset of the Club World Cup so far. After going down in the ninth minute to Man City, Leonardo and Malcom helped the Saudi Arabian side come back to lead 2-1 after 52 minutes. The match then became a back-and-forth affair, with goals from Erling Haaland (55th minute) and Phil Foden (104th minute) for Man City, and Kalidou Koulibaly (94th minute) for Al Hilal. In the 112th minute, Leonardo tapped in from close range to seal a 4-3 victory for the Asian representative, sending the former UEFA Champions League winners home.
Leonardo started at the Club World Cup after teammate Aleksandar Mitrovic suffered an injury. After failing to score in the first two matches, the 22-year-old Brazilian forward repaid coach Simone Inzaghi's faith with a goal against Pachuca and a brace against Man City.
"The past two months have been difficult. My mother was in intensive care for 70 days," Leonardo said. "Thank God, today she is fine. When I scored two goals against Man City, I thought of her. Maybe she was watching the game at that time."
On 5/7, Al Hilal will face Fluminense, Leonardo's fellow Brazilian team, in the quarter-finals. Fluminense also caused an upset by beating Inter Milan 2-0.
According to Leonardo, their upcoming opponent has many good players and is a great team. He predicted that Al Hilal will continue to face difficulties and will have to play their best.
"There are no easy matches at this point. We will play the best we can, with all seriousness to qualify for the semi-finals," Leonardo said.
Another Al Hilal player, defender Renan Lodi, was also proud. But the Brazilian player insisted he and his teammates were not surprised to beat the strong European opponent. "We know our quality. The team has players who have played in the UEFA Champions League, the English Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1. The Saudi Pro League is developing more and more and we are very happy about that," Lodi said.
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Lodi dribbles past Man City forward Savinho in Al Hilal's 4-3 win on 30/6. Photo: AFP |
Lodi dribbles past Man City forward Savinho in Al Hilal's 4-3 win on 30/6. Photo: AFP
The defender was also happy to face a fellow Brazilian team. The former Athletico Paranaense and Atletico Madrid defender was also excited to meet Renato Gaucho, the coach he faced against Gremio in 2017.
Al Hilal participated in the Club World Cup as the 2021 AFC Champions League winners. Before beating Man City, they were unbeaten in the group stage, drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid, 0-0 with Salzburg and winning 2-0 against Pachuca.
Al Hilal drew with Real Madrid, but experts still rated Man City higher before the round of 16. The Opta supercomputer considered Man City the second favorite, behind only PSG.
Thanh Quy (AS)
