'We believe until the end' - Al Hilal react to FIFA Club World Cup draw with Salzburg | OneFootball

Ruben Neves remains confident Al Hilal will advance to the FIFA Club World Cup knockout rounds after the Roshn Saudi League side drew their second successive Group H match in the United States.

The 2023-24 RSL champions, who opened their campaign last week with a brilliant 1-1 draw against Real Madrid, were held to a stalemate by Red Bull Salzburg in Washington DC early on Monday.

Al Hilal were unlucky not to come away with a victory, with Marcos Leonardo having a goal-bound effort midway through the first half cleared off the line and Malcom’s golden opportunity just before the hour that deflected wide.

Al Hilal's Malcom reacts to an effort that almost opens scoring v Red Bull Salzburg at FIFA Club World Cup

At the other end, though, 2023-24 RSL Goalkeeper of the Season Yassine Bono was called into action, most notably at the beginning of the second half. The Moroccan saved superbly from John Mellberg before Kalidou Koulibaly cleared Dorgeles Nene’s rebound from under his own crossbar.

The result leaves Al Hilal third in Group H with two points, meaning the Riyadh club must defeat Mexico’s FC Pachuca in their final game on Friday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

A win, coupled with a victory for either Real Madrid or Salzburg in their match-up, would send Al Hilal through to the last 16. A draw in that game would still allow Hilal to qualify - provided they defeat Pachuca by at least a two-goal margin.

"We are not in the best position, but we believe until the end," Neves told FIFA.com. "Like we showed today again, we played against two very good teams, and we showed character. We showed that we were better than them.

"That's our main target. But we need to win the games. It's not enough to say that we play well if we don't win. So that's what we want to do [in the] next match."

Neves added: "We are performing very well. [We're] just missing being more clinical in front of the goal. We created a lot of chances today. In the first half we were unbelievable, like the last match.

"We just need to be more clinical because we played good enough to be winning the game at half-time. And that's what we need to improve. Defensively, we are OK. We didn't concede goals today. That's a good thing.

“We didn't lose the game, another good thing, because now we can take it to the last match, and let's see what happens."

The clash against Salzburg represented only Simone Inzaghi’s second game in charge at Al Hilal. However, the former Inter Milan manager seems already to be making an impact.

"We trained [with him] for one week and we see already his work," Neves said. "The team showed great performances physically and tactically. We played fantastic matches. But, like I told you, it's not enough to play great matches and not win. So we'll try to do better in the next game."

Bono echoed his teammate’s sentiment, saying: “Our coach was very smart and up to the standard of this competition. We competed very well in both matches and at no time did we look like an inferior team.

“We understood the moments when we had to press, the moments when we had to retreat. To be honest, it was a very smart game from all the players and obviously due to Simone Inzaghi's instructions."