Manchester City and Al-Hilal go head-to-head in the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup round of 16, with England’s dominant force over the past decade going up against one of the biggest powers from the Saudi Pro League.
Despite their lavish spending to recruit the likes of Joao Cancelo, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Yassine Bounou, Al-Hilal will be major outsiders. However, they’re unbeaten at this tournament so far and proved in their 1-1 draw against Real Madrid that they’re well-equipped to mix it with the best.
This knockout tie — taking place in Orlando, Florida — is set to kick off at 2am (UK time) on Tuesday 1st July and will be broadcast live in the UK on Channel 5 and the DAZN app.
Man City to win and over 4.5 goals (7/2 with Sky Bet)
Manchester City have been absolutely rampant at the Club World Cup so far, winning all three of their group games with 13 goals scored and just two conceded. Their biggest victory was 6-0 against Al-Ain. However, by far the most impressive result was the 5-2 thrashing of Italian giants Juventus at the end of the group stage, with Pep Guardiola’s men at one point leading 5-1.
Al-Hilal have proven a tough nut to crack so far, but Man City are the competition’s top scorers and really look in the mood. If they get ahead early, they could sweep their Saudi opponents away.
Time of first goal: 0-10 minutes (16/5 with StarSports)
One of the biggest factors helping City at the moment is their quick starts. The Cityzens have opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes of all three of their matches so far, doing so in the second minute against Wydad Casablanca, the eighth minute against Al-Ain, and the ninth minute against Juventus.
How both teams go into Man City vs Al-Hilal
As mentioned, Manchester City have been on a mission in the United States and, perhaps, the best team at the tournament so far. Guardiola’s side have blown away all before them, with even Juventus made to look completely ordinary. City have scored 4.3 goals per game, leaving them 0.3 ahead of closest challengers Bayern Munich, while their 0.7 goals conceded per match is better only by three teams.
Of course, one of those teams is Al-Hilal, who, alongside PSG and Monterrey, have allowed just 0.3 goals per game to get past them. The Saudi side took five points from their three group games to set second behind Real Madrid, thus setting up this glamour tie.
The winners of this tie will take on the victors of Inter Milan vs Fluminense in Orlando on 4th July.
Man City team news
Man City appeared to come through their emphatic victory over Juventus unscathed. What’s more, Rico Lewis has now completed the suspension for his sending off against Wydad Casablanca and is now free to return to action.
Al-Hilal team news
Equally, Al-Hilal didn’t pick up any fresh issues in their 2-0 win against Pachuca at the end of the group stage. Their only absentee is striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, who hasn’t played a club game since the end of May.
Man City vs Al-Hilal head-to-head
This will be the first-ever meeting between these two sides, and just the second time Al-Hilal have faced an English team. Their previous encounter with a Premier League side saw them lose 1-0 to Chelsea in the semi-finals of the 2022 Club World Cup.