February 8 – In one of many largest upsets within the event’s historical past, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal surprised 10-man Flamengo to achieve the Membership World Cup ultimate with a 3-2 victory over South America’s Copa Libertadores champions on Tuesday.
The primary Saudi aspect to achieve ultimate, they’ll face the winners of Actual Madrid’s semi-final in opposition to Egypt’s Al Ahly in the present day in Rabat.
The Brazilians had come into the semi-final as favorites and with all of the bravura of a membership able to tackle Actual Madrid within the ultimate. However when Salem Al-Dawasari, a star for Saudi Arabia in opposition to Argentina on the World Cup, rating from the penalty spot early on, the writing was maybe on the wall.
A second penalty from Al Dawsari and a close-range strike from Luciano Vietto did for Flamengo, the fourth Brazilian aspect to lose a Membership World Cup semi-final and who have been proven 4 yellow playing cards within the first half alone together with two ensuing within the sending off of Gerson.
“When the workforce loses, one thing is all the time lacking. It wasn’t as a consequence of lack of will or dedication. We didn’t discover good methods to assault and make our greatest match,’ mentioned Flamengo midfielder Everton Ribeiro. ‘Sadly we didn’t get the end result we wished probably the most, the victory.’
“We performed in opposition to a implausible workforce with a implausible coach,” mentioned David Luiz. “We tried to struggle and we had the need till the tip. I sincerely assume the referee was not on the correct stage – firstly the yellow playing cards, too lots of them and that put lots of stress on the defensive gamers like me. I can’t remark in regards to the penalties as a result of I didn’t see them. For me it serves as a lesson we’ve to struggle now for the third place.”
Flamengo’s Portuguese supervisor Vitor Pereira blamed the end result on the refereeing, which he claimed, was completely one sided.
“We have been able to play Al Hilal however weren’t prepared for a refereeing that was lower than the requirements of the competitors,” Pereira advised a information convention.
“It was provocative refereeing and if it weren’t for the character of our gamers, I’m satisfied that we might finish the sport with extra crimson playing cards.”
It isn’t the primary time Brazilian hopes have come to a untimely finish. Within the earlier version of the Membership World Cup, Tigres of Mexico defeated Palmeiras of Sao Paulo 1-0 to finish South American hopes. However for Flamengo the result’s much more damning. The membership has turn out to be a powerhouse at dwelling in recent times and the Membership World Cup is taken into account the holy grail, much more essential than the Copa Libertadores, the Conmebol stepping stone to the worldwide event.
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