Al-Hilal will play in the Club World Cup final after recording a historic 3-2 victory over Flamengo in the semi-final of the tournament on Tuesday.
Match Report
Never before has a team from Saudi Arabia reached the final of the tournament, and the shock nature of the result can be compared to the national team's victory over Argentina in the opening group match at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Real Madrid are the European representative at the tournament in Morocco after winning the Champions League in 2022, but they have yet to play their semi-final fixture.
This is set to come on Wednesday when they face Al-Ahly of Egypt, but there is every expectation that Carlo Ancelotti's charges will progress into the showpiece event against the Saudi club.
Al-Hilal have been the champions of Asia on four occasions, but they have no real pedigree on the continental stage, certainly not compared to Los Blancos.
Real Madrid will be acutely aware of some of the threats they could possess, though, with a number of their players having excelled in Europe in the past.
Odion Ighalo used to play for Manchester United, whilst Moussa Marega was one of Porto's most prolific goalscorers during the club's down years after 2010.
Los Merengues will be sure their focus doesn't slip from the Egyptian giants, especially since the Spanish club's form hasn't been sensational since the return from World Cup break.
Line-ups
Flamengo XI: Éverton Ribeiro, Luiz, Santos, G. De Arrascaeta, Léo Pereira, T.Maia, Gabriel Barbosa, Ayrton Lucas, Gerson, Pedro, Matheuzinho
Subs: Filipe , Vidal, Marinho, Pablo, Rodrigo Caio, G. Varela, Pulgar, Éverton, Fabrício Bruno, Hugo Souza, Matheus Cunha, Matheus França
Al Hilal XI: Ighalo, Abdullah Al Maiouf, Gustavo Cuéllar, A.Carrillo, Jang Hyun-Soo, Salem Al Dawsari, Moussa Marega, Vietto, Ali Albulayhi, Khalifah Al-Dawsari, Saud Abdulhamid
Subs: Mohammed Jahfali, Abdullah Otayf, Saleh Al-Shehri, Mohammed Al Owais, Habib Al-Wutaian, Nasser Al-Dawsari, Michael, Abdullah Al-Hamdan, Musab Al-Juwayr, Mohammed Al-Khaibari, Muath Faqeehi
Football⚽/Fan
378
Ronaldo fans be like - A sAUdi team reched final of CWC .. Ronaldo influence⛵ Ronaldo effect... ROAT for reason 🤣🤣
malablata
31
Never underestimate the influence of Cristiano Ronaldo. He has the spirit of competitiveness about him, every league he plays in have had their fair share of being highly competitive. Teams he play for always want to be beaten by other teams as achievement and as such they raise their standards very high. If his team mates are not prepare for this natural trend by raising their own games, then his team suffers and people say he had destroy the team. You just have to improve your game when you have Cristiano Ronaldo in your team and all the cups and awards will be for the taking. We respect you the Maestro, the motivator, the King of competitiveness, the one who leads and others follow, the greatest of all times. Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you CRISTIANO GOAT RONALDO