Al-Hilal will play Manchester Metropolis within the final 16 of the Membership World Cup after a last day 2-0 win over Mexican aspect Pachuca.
The Saudi aspect leapfrogged RB Salzburg to qualify behind group winners Actual Madrid after the Spanish giants beat the Austrians 3-0 in Philadelphia.
That meant that objectives from Salem al Dawsari and Marcos Leonardo have been sufficient for Al-Hilal to safe a spot within the knockout stage.
Pachuca, already eradicated after shedding their first two video games, have been full of life however an Al-Hilal defence fantastically marshalled by Kalidou Koulibaly shackled hazard man Salomon Rondon and restricted the Mexicans to long-range pictures and half probabilities.
All of the highlights from Al Hilal’s 2-0 victory over Pachuca as they advance to the Spherical of 16! pic.twitter.com/4QwlUa4kda
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Al-Hilal have been responsible of being a bit informal at instances, and got a number of scares by Pachuca as they sat deeper to guard their lead within the last quarter, however held on for a victory that gave them 5 factors to Salzburg’s 4.
“It was a tough recreation however I believe we did an excellent recreation,” stated midfielder Ruben Neves.
“We scored first off, we had management and we defended very nicely. A clear sheet and a win and we’re via. That’s an important factor.”
Nasser Al-Dawsari lofted a cross into the realm to his captain Salem, who managed the ball with one contact of his proper foot and lifted it over the goalkeeper together with his second.
Leonardo headed over the crossbar later within the first half and will have scored within the 83rd minute when elegant Al-Hilal method play left him with solely goalkeeper Sebastian Jurado to beat.
His chip was too weak, nevertheless, and Jurado acquired sufficient of a contact on it to permit defender Eduardo Bauermann to clear it off the road.
Pachuca substitute Illian Hernandez sounded a warning with a robust header that flashed previous the submit within the 84th minute however Leonardo settled any Al-Hilal nerves 5 minutes into stoppage time.
🚨 It’s knockout time!
The highway to MetLife Stadium is ready 🏟️
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Neves discovered him in loads of area within the field and this time the Brazilian rounded the goalkeeper and tucked the ball into an empty internet.
Manchester Metropolis are possible to supply a a lot sterner check than Pachuca and Neves stated Al-Hilal wanted to play in the identical approach as they did of their 1-1 draw with Actual final week.
“We’re enjoying towards, for me, one of many high three groups on the planet. I do know them very nicely,” the Portugal worldwide stated.
“We’ll do our greatest, in fact, we’ll put together the sport like we did in these three video games and we’ll see what occurred.”
