...I'm not going to lie, this is not the result I was expecting. The City did perfectly in the group stage (winning 3 out of 3) and I believed they are level above and would not have any problems going through to the quarter-finals.
I'm not sure if I underestimated Al-Hilal, or overestimated Man City. Either way, losing 4 goals in a game is a clear indicator of something not working as it should in the defense. They did dominate in both ball possession and shots on goal, but they still allowed Al-Hilal to make 17 shots with 6 on target, which is quite a lot.
Manchester City is a good team but looking at their performance as they performed very well the expectations of the fans and viewers also increase, they think about the results that will be on the next level. But the outcome of this match was not as good as the expectations had been, in fact, it would not be wrong to say that this outcome was very disappointing and heart breaking. I think the team of Manchester City is a team with talented players and capable players and they can compete very well with any good club. They can give them a tough competition, but in this, they push back a lot of expectations because when your hopes are hyped and they are not as you think you will feel broken, then it is a little difficult to trust and hope again. So the important thing is this to keep moving forward in a good way.
A big team like Manchester City, initially they never took the pre-season match of the Club World Cup seriously, but after they were faced with the bitter reality where they failed in the domestic league and also the Champions League, which made them fail to win a single trophy this season, and that made Manchester City suddenly become a club that is quite serious in its ambition to be able to win the Club World Cup trophy with several changes and recruitment of new players ahead of the competition. But it is very unfortunate when they have touched the last 16, Manchester City had to be faced with the bitter reality and had to return home early to England.