Koulibaly and Bounou lift Al Hilal in stunning FIFA Club World Cup upset of Manchester City

Photo by Julio Aguilar - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images

Saudi giants Al Hilal have been one of the success stories of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and they produced another upset on Monday evening. Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly scored and Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was once again in top form as Hilal stunned Manchester City 4-3 after extra time in Orlando, Florida.

Bounou, easily the most outstanding goalkeeper at the competition, kept the illustrious attack of Man City frustrated all evening while Hilal took advantage of the few opportunities they had to advance to the quarterfinals.

Early on, it appeared that City would walk to a routine victory when Algeria national team left back Rayan Aït-Nouri set up Bernardo Silva for a controversial opener inside ten minutes. The champions of four of the last five Premier League campaigns, City asserted themselves and were only denied a multiple-goal lead by a strong defensive performance from Hilal led by Bounou and Koulibaly.

However, Hilal came out inspired after halftime and Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo equalized inside the opening minute after the interval before Malcom got behind the defense to finish past compatriot Ederson and it was 2-1 in favor of Hilal with 52 minutes gone.

After making six saves in the first half, Bounou was powerless to stop Erling Haaland from leveling the match again soon after Malcom's strike. But the Moroccan shot stopper kept the score at 2-2 and set the stage for a thrilling extra time sesssion that began with Koulibaly's 94th minute header from a Ruben Neves corner kick.

The Sky Blues were stunned but worked diligently to get themselves back into the match. Substitutes Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden combined to leave the match level again in the 104th minute when Cherki's perfect pass set up Foden for a volley from close range that even Bounou could not stop.

But in the end, Al Hilal would not be denied. Sergej Milinkovic-Savid got on the end of a 112th minute cross to head on goal. Ederson did well to keep the attempt out but Marcos Leonardo was on the doorstep to apply the final touch. Bounou and his defense managed to keep the City attack at bay for the final ten minutes to complete a historic result.

Al Hilal now advance to the final eight where they will face Brazil's Fluminense, who sent another European giant out of the competition earlier on Monday with a 2-0 victory over UEFA Champions League runners-up Inter Milan. Hilal will get to stay in Orlando where the two teams will meet on July 4 (20:00 GMT).