Al Hilal stunned Manchester City at the Club World Cup
Manchester City were stunned by Al Hilal in the Club World Cup
On Thursday afternoon in Orlando, it looked an awful lot like Manchester City were back. On Monday night in Orlando, well, it wasn't quite so clear.
Pep Guardiola's team did some brilliant things in what was the game of the Club World Cup so far. They played some sublime football, looked a threat from set-pieces and should have scored more than they did. From an attacking point of view, aside from some of the finishing, there were positives.
But one of the features of the 5-2 win against Juventus was the control that exerted. Yes, the Serie A side scored twice, but they were rarely a threat on transitions and that soft centre that was exposed regularly last season was much more secure.
Four days later, that wasn't the case. This time, City were dragged into a thrilling game of football. It was a wonderful advert for the tournament, but it did show that not all of the frailties that dogged the Blues last season had been cured.
This tournament has been hindered by storms, but the one that whipped up in Orlando just after 10pm on Monday came with no warning whatsoever. For 45 minutes, City had been cruising at the Camping World Stadium, their only disappointment being that they hadn't put the game out of sight.
The Blues had nine shots to three in the first half and created 2.08 xG in those 45 minutes. They should have had more goals than Bernardo Silva's 10th-minute opener, but the gulf in class looked clear, and you didn't get the impression that profligacy would cost team.
But then those blue shirts of the Saudi Pro League side came back out as if they had been fired up by a lightning bolt at half-time. Within 41 seconds, Marcos Leonardo had equalised. A quick break down the right ended with Malcom's shot being saved, but Ederson didn't do enough with it, and Leonardo looped his header into the net.
Six minutes later, City found themselves behind, conceding from their own corner to complete a rapid first burst that had too many similarities with last season for comfort. Al Hilal's break was brilliant, but Malcom was clear on goal when still 10 yards inside his own half.
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It was noticeable that after the break, Al Hilal gave up trying to play out from the back to beat the press and instead went direct. It worked, and the pace and running power unsettled the City defence to an alarming degree.
Even after Erling Haaland had quickly wiped the deficit out, City almost conceded a penalty to another direct break, only for Malcom to be marginally offside.
As much as the Blues dominated territory and racked up the corners and shots, Al Hilal looked like a threat when they had the chance to break. Their third goal came from another similar break. Renan Lodi's shot was blocked behind from a corner, and from Ruben Neves' delivery, it was Kalidou Koulibaly who headed them in front in extra-time.
City kept bailing themselves out of trouble and Phil Foden's brilliant goal looked like it would save them again, but when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Leonardo took advantage of non-existent marking for the latter to score again, it was game over. City's hopes of beginning the new season with silverware were finished.
This defeat presents another problem. After the draw opened up for them, City would have been expecting another three games. With their campaign ending early, Guardiola must now decide how long to give his players off and how to prepare them for the start of the Premier League season in mid-August.
This was widely considered to be their pre-season, but can they go nearly seven weeks without a game? On the evidence of this performance, there is plenty more fine-tuning to do before August 16.
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