Real Madrid claimed their third straight FIFA Club World Cup title with a 4-1 victory over hosts Al Ain of the UAE in the Final on Saturday night at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Luka Modric opened the scoring for Los Blancos with a sensational strike, which was then followed by a rocket from Marcos Llorente, a Sergio Ramos header and a late Al Ain own goal in the second half to earn Real their fourth Club World Cup title.
After Wednesday’s straightforward win over Kashima Antlers in the semifinals, manager Santiago Solari saw no reason to make any changes and went with the same starting XI that downed the Japanese side 3-1.
Real enjoyed a very strong start and just a few minutes in Los Blancos had already hit the post through Lucas Vazquez after some good work from Llorente. But it was Al Ain who should have broken the deadlock after a horrific defensive error from Marcelo gifted a chance to Hussein El Shahat, but the Al Ain man’s shot was blocked off the line by Ramos.
The hosts would rue that miss, as a minute later Karim Benzema chested a pass down to Modric and the Croatia international struck a beautiful left-footer to make it 1-0.
Defensive lapses aside, Real were in fine form going forward and Lucas Vasquez was a whisker from making it two after a brilliant cut-back pass from Dani Carvajal, but the Galician’s shot skipped just wide.
Benzema was next to have a clear look at goal only to hammer a shot over the crossbar. That was then followed by a Gareth Bale header off a corner kick that forced Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa to use every bit of his right hand to push the ball to safety.
For all of Real’s dominance and their chances, it was still just a one-goal affair as the final half-hour loomed, but that changed in an instant when a corner kick fell perfectly for Llorente, who took a short hop and fired in a bullet from long-range to give Real a 2-0 lead.
Al Ain were still keen to make things interesting and another Real defensive miscue, this time from Ramos, led to a chance for Caio, but goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois came to the rescue to save Ramos’ blushes.
Ramos then more than made up for his near-miss and was the one to put the nail in the Al Ain coffin with a thumping header off a Modric cross to make it 3-0.
To their credit, Al Ain continued to search for a consolation goal and Tsukasa Shiotani gave the home fans something to cheer when he was left alone on a cross into the area and spun a header in past Courtois to cut the lead to 3-1.
But the night belonged to Real and it was capped with their fourth goal in second-half stoppage time when a surging Vinicius run ended with a Yahia Nader own to goal to polish off the 4-1 scoreline and another trophy-laden calendar year for the Spanish giants.
Match Sheet:
1.- Al Ain: Khalid Eisa; Ahmad (Bandar, min. 63), Ismail Ahmed, Fayez, Shiotani; M. Abdulrahman (A. Abdulrahman, min. 67), Doumbia, Yaslem; Caio, Berg (Nader, min. 75), El Shatat.
4.- Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Marcos Llorente (Casemiro, min. 82), Modric, Kroos (Dani Ceballos, min. 70); Lucas (Vinicius, min. 84), Bale, Benzema.
Goals: 0-1, min. 14: Modric; 0-2, min. 60: Llorente; 0-3, min. 78: Ramos; 1-3, min. 86: Shiotani; 1-4, min. 93: Nader (og)
Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States). Yellow Cards: Ramos (Min. 45) for Real Madrid
Red cards: None
Stadium: Zayed Sports City
Attendance: 30.554
