Alate goal from Gareth Bale helped Real Madrid narrowly escape with a 2-1 victory over a pesky Al-Jazira side in the Club World Cup semifinals on Wednesday night at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Real were far from their best on the night, and a combination of slack defending from Real and otherworldly goalkeeping by Al-Jazira’s Ali Khaseif had the host nation up 1-0 at half-time. But the reigning world champions would prove to be too much and a 53rd minute strike from Cristiano Ronaldo and a late goal from substitute Bale avoided what would have been a humiliating defeat.
Manager Zinedine Zidane made a few changes, namely Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos and Toni Kroos taking a seat on the bench, while Achraf, Nacho and Mateo Kovacic were included in the starting XI.
It was the Ali Khaseif show in the first 30 minutes. Real were having a field day in front of goal thanks to the poor marking of the Al-Jazira defence, who were leaving the likes of Ronaldo and Karim Benzema unmarked on crosses into the area. If not for the heads-up goalkeeping of Ali Khaseif, it could have easily been 3-0 or 4-0 after the first 20 minutes. Perhaps the best of the lot from Ali Khaseif was a stretch to his left with his hand to parry away a second Modric shot.
Real thought that they had finally breached Ali Khaseif’s goal when Casemiro headed in an Isco cross at the half-hour mark, but VAR concluded that Benzema was offside and things were still improbably goalless as the match neared half-time.
But a goal was destined to come in the first-half, yet no one could have ever expected that it would come from Al-Jazira, yet that’s exactly what happened shortly before the break when Romarinho gave the United Arab Emirates Pro League champions a shocking 1-0 lead. The Real defence made a complete mess of things and basically watched on as Romarinho collected a pass from Boussoufa on the left, shifted to his right and slotted in past Navas.
Real were suffering from a very poor performance in defence and it turned downright shambolic at the start of the second-half when a massive error almost gifted Al-Jazira a second goal. The hosts had a two-on-none, yet contrived to foul it up, as Boussoufa received a pass in an offside position, thus annulling his strike and cancelling out a 2-0 lead for the hosts.
Real had dodged a bullet, and moments later they caught another break when Ali Khaseif had to be substituted off with an injury. It was in that moment that the reigning European champions decided enough was enough, and Ronaldo fired in the 1-1 equaliser after a fine pass from Modric.
It was one-way traffic with Al-Jazira holding onto the draw for dear life. Benzema had the second goal on his right boot, but shot straight at back-up goalkeeper Al Senaani, much to the dismay of Ronaldo who was wide open on the left and screaming for the ball. Minutes later Benzema came even closer to scoring, but his effort thumped off the post. Incredibly, the Frenchman would hit the post minutes later on a left-footer from the top of the area.
Still in search of a second goal, Zidane brought on Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez for Isco and Kovacic and then Bale for Benzema and it paid handsome dividends. Just seconds after coming on, Bale received a pass from Lucas Vazquez, and swept in a shot that got some help from a Ronaldo dummy to give Real the long-awaited 2-1 lead.
Bale was feeling it, and the Welshman almost pulled off a sensational goal with a soaring scissor-kick but Al Senaani was alert and made the stop in what was the match’s final big chance.
Real will look to claim their third FIFA Club World Cup in Saturday’s final versus Gremio of Brazil.
Match Sheet:
1.- Al-Jazira: Ali Khaseif (Al Senaani, min. 52); Fayez, Ayed, Jumaa, Rashid; Al Attas, Alhosani (Rabia, min. 72), Khalifa (Eissa Mohamed, min. 60), Boussoufa; Romarinho, Ali Mabkhout.
2.- Real Madrid: Keylor; Achraf, Nacho, Varane, Marcelo; Casemiro, Modric, Kovacic (Lucas Vazquez, min. 68), Isco (Asensio, min. 68); Benzema (Bale, min. 80), Cristiano.
Goals: 1-0, min. 41: Romarinho; 1-1, min. 53: Ronaldo; 1-2, min. 82: Bale
Referee: Sandro Ricci (Brazil). Yellow Cards: Ayed (Min. 68) for Al-Jazira
Red cards: None
Stadium: Zayed Sports City
Attendance: 43.000
