Al-Hilal coach Simone Inzaghi likened his side’s shock 4-3 extra-time win over Manchester City in the last 16 of the Club World Cup to “climbing Mount Everest without oxygen.”

This was after the Saudi side booked an unexpected berth in the quarter-finals.

Marcos Leonardo scored a 112th-minute winner for the Riyadh-based club to eliminate Pep Guardiola’s team at the end of a seven-goal thriller in Orlando.

Inzaghi’s side will face Brazil’s Fluminense in the last eight on Friday.

Al-Hilal have been majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund since 2023 and over the last two years have invested heavily in big-name foreign signings including Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Kalidou Koulibaly.

Al-Hilal coach Simone Inzaghi told reporters that the key to his team’s remarkable result was the players and the heart they put on the pitch.