Player Kalidou Koulibaly, defender of the Saudi Al-Hilal team, expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the performance of the refereeing crew during his team's match against Brazilian Fluminense in the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, affirming that Al-Hilal deserved to win.

Koulibaly stated in his remarks: "This match was supposed to be a victory for us; we cannot lose in this manner. The referee was extremely poor and deprived us of victory."

He added: "We are proud of ourselves because the team can only be defeated by such decisions, which robbed us of triumph. We do not hold the refereeing responsible for everything, but everyone witnessed what happened in the match."

The Al-Hilal defender pointed out a clear bias from the referee that affected the outcome, saying: "The referee was very poor and did not award us two clear penalties. When we talk to him, he raises yellow cards at us, while he deals calmly with Fluminense players when they protest."

He continued: "Despite the significant absences like Mitrovic, Salem Al-Dawsari, and Al-Hamdan, we performed excellently and proved that Saudi football is advancing and competing globally."

Koulibaly also expressed pride in what Al-Hilal achieved in the tournament, saying: "We are happy with what we presented, and we hold our heads high. We played a strong match, and those who speak ill of the Saudi league should realize what they are saying, as we have a league capable of competing with the world's elite."

Koulibaly concluded his statements by saying: "This FIFA and this technology have a perplexing variability and subjectivity, and I wish Chelsea success in the rest of their journey in the tournament and hope they win the title."