Fabinho confident Al Ittihad will bounce back from Club World Cup disappointment

Al Ittihad’s Fabinho said the hosts have no excuses for their Fifa Club World Cup exit to Al Ahly on Friday, but vowed to focus on still delivering silverware to the team's fans this season.

Ittihad, the home representatives as the tournament was staged in Saudi Arabia for the first time, were beaten 3-1 by their Egyptian counterparts at a sell-out King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.

The Saudi champions, who opened with a comfortable 3-0 victory on Tuesday against New Zealand's Auckland City, were left to rue Karim Benzema’s saved penalty at the end of the first half, which would have levelled the scores.

However, Ahly struck twice in three second-half minutes to make safe the result and, although they had Anthony Modeste sent off late and Benzema grabbed a goal back in injury-time, the African champions advanced to the semi-finals. They take on recent Copa Libertadores winners Fluminense, of Brazil, on Monday.

Al Ahly’s triumphant players over with their superb support, basking in a deserved win.

3-1 in end, & #ClubWC semi-final with Fluminense to come. #YallaYaAhly pic.twitter.com/SUYcMuQH6r

Speaking to The National immediately after their defeat, Fabinho said: “We are disappointed. We played at home, we expected to reach at least the semi-finals, but unfortunately the tournament finished today for us.

“We didn’t play a good game. Defensively, we didn’t put the right intensity; they had a lot of space to play. And they are a good team.

“If you let a good team play, they will always create danger against you. With the ball, it wasn’t our best game, but we created some good opportunities with our quality.

“We could have scored first, we could have equalised just before the end of the first half, and, yes, in front of