Fluminense vs Al Ahly – Preview, Prediction and Betting Tips 18/12/2023

Fluminense and Al Ahly face each other this Monday in the semi-final of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup. The game will be held at the King Abdullah stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 3:00 pm. The game features the South American champion against the African champion.

Fluminense

Fluminense won its first Libertadores in history this season, also earning the right to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup. The team is led by the controversial Fernando Diniz, who is now also coach of the Brazilian football team. Fluminense’s season was very positive in 2023.

The team began the year by massacring its great rival Flamengo in the final of the Rio championship and becoming state champion. But the team’s focus has always been the Libertadores of America.

The team did not fall into an easy group. The Brazilian team fell into a group with River Plate from Argentina, Sporting Cristal from Peru and The Strongest from Bolivia.

The team advanced in first place in its group with 10 points, the same number of points as River Plate, but ahead due to the tiebreaker criteria. In the round of 16, the Brazilian team faced Argentinos Juniors and advanced with a 1-1 away draw and then a 2-0 home victory.

In the quarterfinals, Fluminense faced Olimpia, who had eliminated Flamengo, and took no notice of the Paraguayan team winning both games, 2-0 and 3-1. In the semi-final, the most complicated confrontation against Internacional was when Flluminense was really on the verge of elimination but managed to achieve a heroic victory in Beira Rio.

In Brasileirão the team had a divided campaign as they always gave priority to Libertadores and sometimes fielding mixed teams and without its main players. Even so, the team finished in seventh place in the table.

Al Ahly

The Egyptians from Al Ahly are not exactly new to the FIFA Club World Cup. Their dominance in African football always makes the Al Ahly team present at the World Cup. In 2020 the team reached the semi-finals but fell 2-0 to Bayern Munich, while in 2021 they lost to Palmeiras in the semi-finals.

In the 2022 Club World Cup, the team again reached the semi-finals but ended up being defeated by Real Madrid and then lost to Flamengo in third place. The team has won 3 of the last 4 African Champions Leagues. It won’t be an easy game for Fluminense.

Conclusion:

The Al Ahly team proved to be very competitive against the millionaires of Al Ittihad with Benzema and Kante and showed that it was capable of facing stronger teams.

However, the Brazilian team seems to me to have a squad with greater depth than the Egyptian team with more decisive players and a more integrated squad.

The Fluminense team had a very successful season and is a team with established routines with a squad that has been playing together for a long time. In a tie this should be decisive and I believe that with greater or lesser difficulty Fluminense will win.