Real Madrid bagged the FIFA Club World Cup for a record fifth time in an entertaining 5-3 victory over Al-Hilal on Saturday evening.
Star striker Karim Benzema was passed fit and was recalled to Real’s attack, with Eder Militao being named the bench as Rodrygo missed out.
Real needed only 13 minutes to go ahead after Benzema thread through to Vinicius Junior to run on the blind-side and slot underneath goalkeeper Abdullah A-Mayouf.
Los Blancos claimed a second after five minutes when Hilal failed to deal with a square ball from the right and Federico Valverde took aim and volleyed in the far corner.
The LaLiga champions dominant start were halted inside 26 minutes this when an assist by Mohamed Kanno entered Moussa Marega and the forward made no mistake with a smart finish.
Hilal could’ve drawn level minutes ahead of the break after Marega beat Antonio Rudiger to a long ball over the top before he drilled the effort over.
After an entertaining first half, no team made substitutions before the start of the second half and decided to keep the playing personnel unchanged.
Madrid didn’t lose momentum and grabbed a third in the 54th minute as Vinicius used the outside of his boot to cross for Benzema to side-foot home.
A fourth came four minutes later when a cool move down the right saw Dani Carvajal layoff for Valverde to apply a first-time shot in the roof of the net and complete his brace.
Real made a double change well inside the 62nd minute when Dani Ceballos replaced Aurelien Tchouameni before Benzema pulled off for Rodrygo.
It quickly turned into a goal-feast of an encounter as Hilal got a second after two minutes when Luciano Vietto ran in behind off a through pass and dinked over Lunin.
Los Blancos restored their three-goal advantage 69 minutes in after Vinicius stepped inside of Ceballos’ angled shot and curled in the bottom-corner.
Hilal continued to though push Madrid and got a third in the last ten minutes when Vietto got on the end of substitute Michael’s delivery and beat Lunin.
The European champions very nearly conceded a fourth in a lengthy stoppage with a free-kick from Michael, but he went over and Madrid claimed a fifth Club World Cup title.
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