{"id":29277,"date":"2025-06-21T02:47:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/?p=29277"},"modified":"2025-06-21T02:47:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:47:37","slug":"al-hilal-frustrate-madrid-as-juventus-crush-al-ain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/2025\/06\/21\/al-hilal-frustrate-madrid-as-juventus-crush-al-ain\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Hilal Frustrate Madrid as Juventus Crush Al-Ain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabian giants Al-Hilal kicked off their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup campaign with a resilient 1\u20131 draw against Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on June 18. In stark contrast, Italian titans Juventus dismantled UAE\u2019s Al-Ain with a commanding 5\u20130 win at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite finishing second in the 2024\/25 Saudi Pro League and missing their marquee forward Neymar, who exited the club mid-season, Al-Hilal fielded a star-studded lineup that included the likes of Yassine Bounou, Sergej Milinkovi\u0107-Savi\u0107, R\u00faben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Jo\u00e3o Cancelo, alongside Saudi national team mainstays Salem Al-Dawsari, Mohamed Kanno, and Mohammed Al-Qahtani. Their collective effort was enough to match Real Madrid\u2019s array of stars on the night.<\/p>\n

The match also marked the managerial debuts of Simone Inzaghi and Xabi Alonso for Al-Hilal and Real Madrid respectively. New Madrid signings Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen were also handed their first starts.<\/p>\n

Gonzalo Garc\u00eda gave Madrid a 1\u20130 lead in the 34th minute with a sharp counterattack finish, but Al-Hilal responded swiftly. A clumsy foul by Ra\u00fal Asencio on Marcos Leonardo inside the box led to a penalty, which R\u00faben Neves confidently dispatched in the 41st minute.<\/p>\n

Madrid pressed hard for a winner in the second half, but Bounou delivered a heroic performance in goal\u2014capping it off with a dramatic penalty save from Federico Valverde in stoppage time to preserve the draw.<\/p>\n

While Al-Hilal showcased their ability to compete with Europe’s elite, the same could not be said for Al-Ain, who were overwhelmed by Juventus. Though Al-Ain were crowned AFC Champions League winners in the 2023\/24 season, their 2025 Club World Cup opener was a humbling experience.<\/p>\n

Fielding familiar names like Soufiane Rahimi, Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba, and newly signed goalkeeper Rui Patr\u00edcio, Al-Ain were powerless against a rampant Juventus side. Randal Kolo Muani struck twice in the first half, joined by Kenan Yildiz and Francisco Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, giving Juve a 4\u20130 lead at halftime. Concei\u00e7\u00e3o added his second and Juve\u2019s fifth in the 58th minute, sealing an emphatic victory.<\/p>\n

The result continued a rough start for Asian representatives at this year\u2019s tournament, following opening losses for Urawa Red Diamonds and Ulsan HD the previous day<\/a>. With only Al-Hilal securing points so far, the pressure is on Asia\u2019s remaining contenders to restore pride in the coming fixtures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabian giants Al-Hilal kicked off their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup campaign with a resilient 1\u20131 draw against Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on June 18. In stark contrast, Italian titans Juventus dismantled UAE\u2019s Al-Ain with a commanding 5\u20130 win at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. Despite finishing second in the 2024\/25 Saudi Pro League and missing their marquee forward Neymar, who exited the club mid-season, Al-Hilal fielded a star-studded lineup that included the likes of Yassine Bounou, Sergej Milinkovi\u0107-Savi\u0107, R\u00faben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Jo\u00e3o Cancelo, alongside Saudi national team mainstays Salem Al-Dawsari, Mohamed Kanno, and Mohammed Al-Qahtani. Their collective effort was enough … Continue reading “Al-Hilal Frustrate Madrid as Juventus Crush Al-Ain”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":26743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1318,505,926,1922,1998,1112,819,250,281,311,95,92,736,2429],"class_list":["post-29277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","tag-al-ain-fc","tag-al-hilal","tag-asia","tag-club-world-cup","tag-europe","tag-fifa-club-world-cup","tag-italy","tag-juventus","tag-real-madrid","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-slider","tag-spain","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-west-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29280,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29277\/revisions\/29280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}