African champions Esperance of Tunisia were left stunned by home side Al Ain FC on Saturday, losing 3-0 in the last eight of the 2018 Fifa Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
Al Ain, who narrowly got through the last round to qualify for a place against Esperance, will now face recent Copa Libertadores champions River Plate in the semi-finals.
The hosts fought from three goals down to draw 3-3 with Team Wellington before winning on penalties to book their quarter-final spot.
But they avoided making the same mistake against the African champions on Saturday, as Mohamed Ahmed opened the scoring just two minutes into the match.
Hussein El Shahat doubled their lead after 16 minutes and Bandar Mohammed's strike on the hour mark capped a 3-0 win that will give Argentine opponents River Plate food for thought ahead of their semi-final clash on Tuesday.
The 2018 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) is the 15th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between the champion clubs from each of the six continental confederations, as well as the national league champion from the host country. The tournament will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates from 12 to 22 December 2018.
Real Madrid are the defending champions, having won the last two editions, and have qualified for this edition as well.