FIFA Club World Cup
Result: River Plate 2-2 Al Ain (Al Ain won 5-4 on penalties)
Date: 18 December 2018
Venue: Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium
South American champions River Plate have failed to advance to the Club World Cup final after losing 5-4 on penalties to hosts Al Ain.
The Argentine outfit qualified for the tournament after defeating fierce rivals Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores a couple weeks ago.
Just as they did against Esperance, Al Ain took an early lead after Marcus Berg fired past Franco Armani as early as the third minute.
The South American champions hit back in the 11th minute thanks to strike from Santos Borre to restore parity.
Borre completed his brace and doubled River's lead five minutes later to complete a quick turnaround.
There was a good tempo to the first half, with both sides playing playing expansive football, much to the delight of the supporters in attendances.
The Arabian outfit thought they had levelled matters on the stroke of halftime when Hussein Elshahat fired home, however the attacker's effort was flagged offside.
Al Ain did not have to wait long for the equaliser as they were level on 51 minutes thanks to a strike from Caio. His first of the campaign.
River had a chance to take the lead after being awarded a penalty after 69 minutes. Gonzalo Martinez stepped up but rattled his spot-kick against the crossbar.
Neither side could find a winning goal in the remaining stages of the second half, forcing the game into extra-time.
Unfortunately extra-time panned out in similar fashion to the latter stages of the second half as chances were hard to come by on both ends.
The match ultimately went to a penalty shoot-out, where Al Ain held their nerve to triumph 5-4 after Khalid Eisa saved Enzo Perez's penalty.
