Saudi Gazette report

TANGIER — Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal stunned South American champions Flamengo of Brazil to reach the Club World Cup final with a 3-2 victory in the semi-finals held in Tangier, Morocco, on Tuesday.

Two penalties in the first half from Salem Al-Dawsari and a close-range strike from Luciano Vietto qualified the Asian champions to become the first Saudi squad to reach the Club World Cup final.

Al-Hilal will take on the African runner-up Al-Ahly of Egypt or the European champions Real Madrid in Saturday’s final after their meeting in the second semi-finals in Rabat on Wednesday.

Al Dawsari’s perfectly placed spot-kick gave Al-Hilal the lead in the first minutes of the match after Matheuzinho tripped Vietto inside the box. Pedro equalized for Flamengo with a close-range strike in the 20th minute but Al-Hilal regained the lead just before halftime as Al-Dawsari again converted from the spot, with Gerson sent off for a second booking after stomping on Vietto in the penalty area.

With Flamengo reduced to 10 men for the entire second half, Al-Hilal controlled the tempo and eventually scored the third goal, when Al-Dawsari returned the favor to Vietto, putting the ball on a plate for the Argentinian to score with a point-blank strike.

Pedro's close-range effort in extra time was too little too late for Flamengo, who became only the sixth Copa Libertadores champions not to advance to the final.

Meanwhile, Minister of Sports Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal offered a financial reward, amounting to SR500,000, to each player of Al-Hilal team, which qualified for the Club World Cup final.

On his part, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, an honorary member of Al-Hilal Club, announced that he will reward SR1 million to each Al-Hilal player on the occasion of qualifying for the Club World Cup final.