Dubai: Al Hilal thrashed Al Jazira 6-1 tonight in the second round of the FIFA Club World Cup at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, in Abu Dhabi.
Abdoulay Diaby had given the UAE Pro League champions the lead in the first half with a lovely team goal. Thulani Serero unravelled the defence with a sumptuous through-ball, Rabii Mohammed raced on to it and squared it across the box, and Diaby slotted it home from close range.
But that was as good as it got for Al Jazira as Al Hilal stormed back. They scored three times in the first 45 through Odion Ighalo, Matheus Pereira and Mohamed Kanno and then another three in the second half via Salem Aldawsari, Moussa Marega and Carillo.
Showed his quality
Pareira was linked with Liverpool and Manchester United before joining Al Hilal amid grand fanfare last August. Although he had flickered his pristine genius, he had nevertheless failed to live up to the hype in blue until tonight. He showed his quality on the ball and ran the show and was the difference between the two teams.
It took Pereira six months to score his first Al Hilal goal. By contrast, it took Ighalo just 36 minutes of his debut tonight. “We believe we were much the better team, so after we went 1-0 down, we started pressing, acting as a team. Everyone started getting into the game. We scored one, we scored another and we got the result we wanted,” said Ighalo.
