Underdog Al Hilal secures surprising 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in Club World Cup

Andre Fernandez, Miami Herald on Jun 18, 2025

Published in Soccer

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MIAMI — Al Hilal’s soccer history in Saudi Arabia doesn’t sound like the club should be considered an underdog.

But on the world stage of the FIFA Club World Cup, and against global powerhouse Real Madrid, the 19-time Saudi League champions had the odds stacked against them.

Add to that a raucous Hard Rock Stadium crowd of 62,415, most of which were Real Madrid supporters.

None of it fazed Al Hilal, which went toe-to-toe with the Spanish soccer giants all afternoon on Wednesday, and came away with a surprising 1-1 draw in each team’s opening match in the Club World Cup.

Al Hilal surrendered a first-half goal, but would later convert a penalty kick and stop one of Real Madrid’s in the closing moments of the match to secure a valuable point in the Group H standings. The quartet in that group also includes Austrian side, FC Salzburg, who leads the group with three points following a 2-1 victory over Mexican club, CF Pachuca, on Wednesday night.

Al Hilal, which matched up against Real Madrid for the first time since losing to them, 5-3, in the 2023 Club World Cup Final, dueled for nearly 90 minutes to the one goal apiece stalemate before nearly seeing its efforts go to waste.

As they tried to clear the ball out of their own penalty area, Al Hilal winger Mohammed Al-Qahtani swung his arm out and elbowed Real Madrid’s Fran Garcia just inside the box in the 88th minute.

After video-assisted review, Real Madrid was awarded a penalty kick. Al-Qahtani and Ruben Neves were each dealt yellow cards with the latter issued one for arguing with the referee.

But Al Hilal’s Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Buonou guessed correctly and dove to his right to smother the shot from Real midfielder Federico Valverde two minutes later just as seven minutes of stoppage time began.

The sides would end up dueling for over nine minutes of stoppage time before the final whistle blew.

Real Madrid played the game shorthanded without French superstar forward Kylian Mbappe, who has been dealing with an illness in recent days.

But English midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was recently signed to a six-year deal after leaving Liverpool, made his team debut. Real Madrid paid Liverpool an $11.4 million transfer fee so he could join the team in time to play in this tournament. Alexander-Arnold started and played the first 65 minutes of the match.

Al Hilal was also a bit shorthanded without top scorer Aleksander Mitrovic, who sat out the match with a muscle injury. Mitrovic scored 28 goals in 36 games this season for Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League.

Alexander-Arnold made an immediate impact for Madrid on the right side of their formation alongside Brazilian forward Rodrygo as the two helped produce the first goal and give Real Madrid its only edge, 1-0.

In the 34th minute and after getting outplayed for large chunks of the first half by Al Hilal, Madrid struck first when Gonzalo Garcia, who started in place of Mbappe took a perfectly-timed cross from Rodrygo following a strong drive down the middle of the field by Valverde.

But when Real Madrid’s Raul Asencio fouled Marcos Leonardo inside the penalty area in the 40th minute, Al Hilal drew a chance at the equalizer. Neves made it count as he shot it high and into the upper right corner past Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois to tie the match.

“To make a debut for Real Madrid is something every player dreams of so that was huge for me,” Alexander-Arnold said in a postgame interview with DAZN. “Of course, there’s some disappointment to have not won the game. It’s the mentality you need to have is to want and expect to win every game we play in, but there were a lot of positives in the second half.”

Al Hilal appeared to score in the 19th minute as Renan Lodi appeared to deliver the match’s first goal. But the assistant referee ruled that the former standout for Atletico Madrid was offside. Al Hilal had slightly more possession (45%) than Real Madrid (43%) even though Madrid outshot Al Hilal 20-13 overall, and 8-2 on shots on target.

Al Hilal played with a very diverse roster as only three of its starters are from Saudi Arabia. The other eight come from Brazil, Portugal, Serbia, Canada and Senegal.

The game also represented a potentially fresh start for each club with their head coaches directing their respective teams for the first time.

Former Spanish national team standout Xabi Alonso directed Real Madrid for the first time in a match since being hired on May 25 after former coach Carlo Ancelotti left to coach the Brazilian national team. Alonso, who once played for Real Madrid, is back with the club after a successful stint with German club, Bayer Leverkusen, which included a Bundesliga title after the 2023-24 season.

Al Hilal coach Simone Inzaghi made his club debut after being hired recently as well. Inzaghi led Inter Milan to the Champions League final this season before losing 5-0 to Paris St.-Germain.

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