Sundowns Beat Star-Studded Al Hilal In Their Final European Friendly

Mamelodi Sundowns demonstrated that they will be a threat in the expanded FIFA Club World Cup next year by beating star-studded Saudi Arabia champions Al Hilal 2-1 in their last European tour friendly match on Friday.
Sundowns’ goals were scored by Aubrey Modiba and Lucas Ribeiro in the second half to sign off in style against one of the top sides in the world football.
However, Aleksander Mitriovic, who was the second top last season in Saudi Pro League behind Cristiano Ronaldo, scored the equaliser for Qatar side to cancel out Costa’s screamer. But Modiba restored the lead to win the game for the African giants. Denis Onyango even saved a penalty before the Serbian scored.
Al Hilal are one of the top and rich sides in the Middle East, boasting a formidable squad featuring Senegalese captain Kalidou Coulibaly, Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves, Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, former Fulham striker Mitrovic, ex-Barcelona attacker Malcom, and Brazilian superstar Neymar Junior.
However, the latter missed the match due to a recovery from a season-long ACL injury.
The team is led by experienced Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, who joined the club in July.
Some of the players featured, but could not stopped Sundowns in securing their second successive win on Friday after beating Al Arabi of Qatar by 3-0 early on.
This was Sundowns’ last game in their European tour. They played five matches, losing to Sandhausen and Dinamo Kiev, before they followed that up by securing a draw against Cardiff City on Tuesday.