By Daily Sports Nigeria on July 5, 2025

Brazilian side Fluminense booked their semi-final place at the Fifa Club World Cup with a victory over Saudi club Al-Hilal.

Flu will face Chelsea on Tuesday (20:00 BST) in New Jersey.

Matheus Martinelli gave them the lead with a wonderful finish into the top corner from 16 yards out from Gabriel Fuentes' pass.

Al-Hilal had a penalty overturned by the video assistant referee when Samuel Xavier clipped Marcos Leonardo accidentally.

But they got their equaliser when Kalidou Koulibaly's header fell to Leonardo, who netted from close range - his fourth goal of the tournament.

Fluminense found the winner though when Xavier headed the ball down to substitute Hercules, who slotted a shot into the bottom corner.

Al-Hilal piled on plenty of late pressure but could not find an equaliser to force extra time.

Before this tournament, most people expected the winner to come from Europe - with many suggesting more of the teams should come from the top European leagues.

This game was widely expected to be Manchester City v Inter Milan - but Al-Hilal beat the Premier League side in the last round, and Fluminense defeated their Serie A opponents.

What makes Flu's run especially noteworthy is they are far from Brazil's best team.

They only finished four points above the relegation zone last season and are sixth in the ongoing 2025 campaign. And now they are two wins away from being world champions.

In 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio and 40-year-old centre-back Thiago Silva, Fluminense have the second and third oldest players in the history of the Club World Cup.

Fabio has only conceded three goals in five games in this tournament and made three good stops here - and denied Koulibaly and Musab Al Juwayr late on.

Silva was excellent too and battled on despite injuring his nose.

There were emotional scenes before the game with Hilal's Portugal duo Joao Cancelo and Ruben Neves in tears during the minute's silence for their Portugal team-mate Diogo Jota.

Source BBC Sports

Posted July 5, 2025

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