Sensational Manchester City faced unbeaten Al-Hilal in a thrilling Round of 16 clash of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. The winners will face either Inter or Fluminense in the quarterfinals.
MCI vs HIL Match Details
Date: Monday, 30 June 2025 / Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Time: 21:00 (ET) / 06:30 (IST)
Venue: Camping World Stadium, Orlando
MCI vs HIL Match Preview
Despite last season’s woes, Manchester City cruised past in the group stages of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 with three wins out of three, stating that they are back with a bang. After starting the tournament with a 2-0 win over Wydad Casablanca, Pep Guardiola's men thrashed Al-Ain 6-0 before overcoming fellow UEFA side Juventus with a huge 5-2 win to clinch the top spot in Group G. There were four different goal-scorers in the victory, the other being an own goal from Pierre Kalulu, which showed the merciless nature of the Cityzens and a signal to the remaining lot in the competition that they are coming for the prize. The Premier League giants scored 13 goals, one more than their next best scorer in this edition, Bayern Munich, whose 10 of the 12 goals came in the first game itself, while the two goals conceded came only in the final group game. City has shown their intent to bounce back strongly from the lacklustre campaign last time and retain the silverware, in which they were the final champions of the competition’s old format in 2023, providing a great boost for the new season in August. The Sky Blues will now take on record AFC Champions League winners Al-Hilal in the Round of 16, hoping to maintain their five-game winning streak to lead them to the quarterfinals.
Clubbed with record competition winners Real Madrid, RB Salzburg and Pachuca, Al-Hilal knew that winning Group H would be difficult, but they are good enough to secure a berth in the Round of 16 stage of the expanded tournament. That is what materialised after the Saudi heavyweights held Los Blancos to a 1-1 draw and snatched a point out of Salzburg before claiming a 2-0 win over the Mexican club to finish above the Austrians, who lost in their final group game, with a point more in second. Salem Al-Dawsari was instrumental in the victory as he lobbed the opposition keeper for a spectacular opener in the 22nd minute, with Marcos Leonardo, continuing to fill in the place left by the injured Aleksandar Mitrovic, scoring his first in the competition in stoppage time to take his side through to the knockouts. However, it was Yassine Bounou who was again crucial for the result with his saves, as he has done throughout the tournament. Al-Hilal will face the stiffest battle now in the form of Manchester City, who are shining again, in the Round of 16 of the 2025 Club World Cup for only the second competitive meeting against an English club. They aim to achieve an upset, having gone undefeated in 12 of their last 13 matches.
MCI vs HIL Recent Form (all competitions)
MCI: WWWWW
HIL: DWDDW
MCI vs HIL Recent Form (CWC 2025)
MCI: WWW
HIL: DDW
MCI vs HIL Predicted Lineups
Manchester City
Ederson; Nunes, Akanji, Gvardiol, Nouri; Gonzalez, Gundogan; Savinho, Foden, Doku; Haaland
Al Hilal
Bounou; Cancelo, Tambakti, Koulibaly, Lodi; N. Al-Dawsari, Neves, Kanno; Milinkovic-Savic; Malcom, Leonardo
MCI vs HIL Dream11 Match Prediction
While Al-Hilal are expected to make it a little bit harder for them to breach with their excellent keeper in store and for the defence that has not conceded more than once in the past five games, Manchester City’s quality and depth in the attacking department, with a rampaging form, should make it a comfortable affair for them. We predict a 3-0 win for Guardiola's men.
MCI vs HIL Dream11 Team Top picks
Captain Pick: Erling Haaland
Vice-captain Pick: Phil Foden
MCI vs HIL Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Bounou (Cr - 7.5, Pts - 190)
DEF: Nunes (Cr - 8, Pts - 129), Koulibaly (Cr - 7.5, Pts - 101), Nouri (Cr - 8 , Pts - 98)
MID: Doku (Cr - 7.5, Pts - 145), Gundogan (Cr - 7.5, Pts - 161), Neves (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 151), Dawsari (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 110)
FW: Foden (Cr - 8, Pts - 162), Haaland (Cr - 9, Pts - 169), Savinho (Cr - 7, Pts - 119)
Vice-captain: Phil Foden
Captain: Erling Haaland
