Al-Hilal down Pachuca to reach last 16 at Club World Cup
Al-Hilal beat Mexico's Pachuca 2-0 to reach the knockout stage of the Club World Cup on Thursday, the big-spending Saudi club's first win of the tournament enough to send them through as Group H runners-up behind Real Madrid.
Salem Al-Dawsari opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Marcos Leonardo added the second in stoppage time to earn the four-times Asian champions a last-16 clash with Manchester City in Orlando on Monday.
Pachuca, already eliminated after losing their first two games, were lively but an Al-Hilal defence superbly marshalled by Kalidou Koulibaly shackled danger man Salomon Rondon and restricted the Mexicans to long-range shots and half chances.
Al-Hilal were guilty of being a bit casual at times, and were given a few scares by Pachuca as they sat deeper to protect their lead in the final quarter, but held on for a victory that gave them five points to Red Bull Salzburg's four.
"It was a hard game but I think we did a great game," said midfielder Ruben Neves.
"We scored first off, we had control and we defended very well. A clean sheet and a win and we are through. That's the most important thing."
The Al-Hilal squad is packed with top-class players expensively assembled from around the world but the opening goal came from a combination of two homegrown talents.
Nasser Al-Dawsari took possession in the final third and lofted a pass into the area to his captain Salem, who controlled the ball with one touch of his right foot and lifted it over the goalkeeper with his second.
Leonardo headed over the crossbar later in the first half and should have scored in the 83rd minute when sublime Al-Hilal approach play left him with only goalkeeper Sebastian Jurado to beat.
His chip was too weak, however, and Jurado got enough of a touch on it to allow defender Eduardo Bauermann to clear it off the line.
Pachuca substitute Illian Hernandez sounded a warning with a powerful header that flashed past the post in the 84th minute but Leonardo settled any Al-Hilal nerves five minutes into stoppage time.
Neves found him in plenty of space in the box and this time the Brazilian rounded the goalkeeper and tucked the ball into an empty net.
Manchester City are likely to provide a much sterner test than Pachuca and Neves said Al-Hilal needed to play in the same way as they did in their 1-1 draw with Real last week.
"We are playing against, for me, one of the top three teams in the world. I know them very well," the Portugal international said.
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