AFC affiliates Al Hilal sent Brazil's Flamengo packing at the Club World Cup courtesy of two penalties from Salem Al Dawsari and a close-range strike from Luciano Vietto.
It took just four minutes for Ramón Díaz's men to open the scoring as Al Dawsari, Saudi Arabia's hero in their infamous Qatar 2022 opening match victory against Argentina, calmly converted from the spot - only for Brazil international Pedro to hit back for the South Americans in the 20th minute.
Flamengo's hopes of progressing to the final were dealt a huge blow in stoppage time of the opening half as Gerson was sent off for a trip on Al Hilal forward Vietto. Al Dawsari went on to place the resulting spot-kick into the bottom corner to give the Asian champions the advantage at half-time.
A 10-man Flamengo side were put out of their misery inside the final 20 minutes of the match, as Vietto beat goalkeeper Santos to make it 3-1, meaning Pedro's late goal was merely a consolation for the South Americans.
In a surprise move, Flamengo boss Vítor Pereira left out star veteran Filipe Luis and Uruguayan full-back Guillermo Varela, as well as midfield maestro Arturo Vidal in the starting 11 - Varela's right-back replacement Matheuzinho conceded the penalty inside the opening three minutes.
The CONMEBOL champions ultimately failed to recover from the early set-back, as Al Hilal became the first Saudi Arabian side to reach the Club World Cup final.
They will face off against the winner of tomorrow morning's semi-final between Spanish giants Real Madrid and first-round entrants Al Ahly of Egypt on Sunday morning (AEDT).
