Al-Hilal beat Mexico's Pachuca 2-0 to reach the knockout stage of the Club World Cup on Thursday, the Saudi club's first win of the tournament enough to send them through as Group H runners-up behind Real Madrid.
Salem Al-Dawsari opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Marcos Leonardo added the second in stoppage time to earn the four-times Asian champions a last-16 clash with Manchester City in Orlando on Monday.
Pachuca, already eliminated after losing their first two games, were lively but an Al-Hilal defence marshalled by Kalidou Koulibaly shackled danger man Salomon Rondon and restricted Pachuca to long-range shots and half chances.
"It was a hard game but I think we did a great game," said Al-Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves." We scored first off, we had control and we defended very well. A clean sheet and a win and we are through. That's the most important thing."
The Al-Hilal squad is packed with top-class players expensively assembled from around the world but the opening goal came from a combination of two homegrown talents.
Nasser Al-Dawsari took possession in the final third and lofted a pass into the area to his captain Salem, who controlled the ball with one touch of his right foot and lifted it over the goalkeeper with his second.
Manchester City are likely to provide a much sterner test than Pachuca, with Neves stating that Al-Hilal needed to play in the same way as they did in their 1-1 draw with Real last week.
"We are playing against, for me, one of the top three teams in the world. I know them very well," said Neves, highlighting that the team plans to prepare well for the game and do their best for the upcoming game.
Dozens arrested in NBA illegal gambling probe
FIA defends return of sanctioned Russian to governing body
Messi extends Inter Miami contract
Australia fend off India in Adelaide to seal ODI series
South Africa beat Pakistan by eight wickets to level series
