Real Madrid won the Club World Cup for a fifth time since 2014 as Carlo Ancelotti’s side beat Al Hilal 5-3 in Rabat.
Vinicius Junior opened the scoring with a low finish before Federico Valverde added a second in the 18th minute.
Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal came back into the game through Moussa Marega, before Karim Benzema’s second-half strike restored Madrid’s two-goal cushion.
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Valverde then scored his second of the night, but Luciano Vietto got another back for the 2021 AFC Champions League winners amid some slack defending.
When Vinicius Jr got his side’s fifth it seemed Madrid would cruise to victory but Vietto grabbed another and Marega missed a good chance to make it 5-4 with 10 minutes remaining.
Here, The Athletic picks out the key moments and talking points.
King Kroos stands alone
Real Madrid count this as the eighth time they have been crowned the best club team in world football. Saturday’s trophy adds to their previous four Club World Cup titles, plus their three victories at the Intercontinental Cup, the competition contested between Europe and South America’s champions between 1960 and 2004.
This was Toni Kroos’ fifth Club World Cup title with Madrid, adding to his 2013 victory with Bayern Munich. Just behind Kroos in the competition’s most decorated players are four of his Madrid team-mates — Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Nacho and Dani Carvajal have each now won the trophy five times, having played a part in all of Madrid’s successes since 2014.
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Madrid’s win also marks another interesting landmark — this is the 10th successive year the Club World Cup has been won by Europe’s champion representatives. Corinthians were the last team from South America to win it, beating Chelsea 1-0 in 2012.
Guillermo Rai
Valverde’s goals, Ancelotti’s relief
Ancelotti promised to tear up his coaching badge and quit the game if Valverde did not score 10 goals or more this season. That seemed a risk given Valverde had scored just six goals in 148 games for Madrid.
But the boost to the Uruguayan’s confidence quickly paid off, and he had reached eight goals in all competitions by early November. These included spectacular strikes against Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla in La Liga, and Celtic in the Champions League.
During the months since, including a disappointing World Cup with his country, Valverde has not been at his best, and said as much himself before Wednesday’s semi-final. He then scored in the 4-1 win over Al Ahly, a confidently taken close-range strike.
No 10 came in tonight’s final. After Al Hilal goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf palmed out Modric’s cross, Valverde’s powerful first-time strike flicked off a defender on its way to the net. The 24-year-old then ran to the bench for a hug with Ancelotti, and presumably told his boss that his coaching credential was safe.
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Valverde’s confidence was clear to see near the hour mark, too, when a neat flick home from Carvajal’s right-wing cross saw him celebrating goal No 11 this term.
Dermot Corrigan
Kroos and Modric: a final bow?
There was a lot of debate pre-game, but Madrid coach Ancelotti stuck with Kroos and Modric in his starting midfield for this final. This meant Dani Ceballos was on the bench, despite his recent energetic and confident performances.
So Kroos, 33, and Modric, 37, began their 15th final in almost a decade as Madrid team-mates, 14 of which both have started.
This was an ideal game for the two experienced old heads to play together. The pace of play was not at the level of a Champions League game, so they had plenty of time and space to knit moves together.
Kroos was involved in starting the move from which Vinicius Jr opened the scoring, while Modric put in the cross that led directly to Valverde making it 2-0.
When Madrid were 5-2 up with 20 minutes left, Ancelotti took off his veteran midfielders for some well-earned rest, but the way Madrid almost lost control of the game from there spoke to how important their experience is.
The Italian has spoken a lot lately about a transition ongoing in his team, with Modric and Kroos out of contract in June. Neither is certain to continue.
This could be the last final they start together for Madrid. Whether Ancelotti trusts both in his XI for the looming Champions League last-16 games against Liverpool will be interesting to see.
Dermot Corrigan
Trouble again in Madrid’s problem position
When left-back Ferland Mendy was injured in the Copa del Rey derby against Atletico Madrid, alarm bells went off.
Ancelotti reacted by moving Eduardo Camavinga from midfield, and kept him there as a starter for the next four games. “He doesn’t like playing there, but we do. He surprised us all,” Ancelotti said after Madrid’s 2-0 win over Valencia, a match that saw Camavinga at his best.
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In the matches they have played with Camavinga at left-back, Madrid beat Atletico, drew against Real Sociedad (0-0), beat Valencia (2-0) and lost at Mallorca (1-0) in La Liga, and beat Al Ahly (1-4) and Al Hilal (5-3) to lift the Club World Cup.
In the semi-final, Camavinga was outplayed by Hussein El Shahat, whom he fouled to concede a penalty that could have put Real in trouble. In the final, he was exposed again.
Although the Frenchman shared the blame with David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger, who played Marega onside, Al Hilal’s first and second goals came from his flank.
It was not his best night, and nor was it all just about his position. When he was switched into midfield after Alaba came on, he failed to make the interventions expected of him around his own box.
Mendy will not be back until the end of March at the earliest, and Madrid face Liverpool, Atletico and Barcelona in the coming weeks. These two games in Morocco could make Ancelotti rethink his choices at left-back, a problem position for the Italian.
Mario Cortegana
The Moulay Abdellah, dyed in white
A majority of the 44,439 fans at the Moulay Abdellah Stadium celebrated Madrid’s victory with fervour, with many chanting the same songs that can be heard on a Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu.
So, despite being in Morocco and facing Egyptian and Saudi teams, Madrid enjoyed some of the benefits of playing at home. Especially in the final against Al Hilal, who brought fewer than a thousand fans, a speck among the white jerseys.
Only 800 or so Madrid fans were said to have travelled from Spain but that didn’t stop Ancelotti’s side from enjoying strong support.
Guillermo Rai
A tough night for Lunin
With Thibaut Courtois injured, Andriy Lunin started in goal for Madrid on his 24th birthday. The Ukrainian had a difficult night between the sticks.
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In the semi-final, he conceded a penalty but there was little to reproach him for. He made several good stops and one particularly impressive save in the second half.
The final was worse. For Marega’s shot, the ball seemed to go through him too easily, and he could have done more with Vietto’s first goal.
For Vietto’s second, he was left exposed by his defence. His reaction was one of helplessness, opening his arms and asking for more help from his team-mates. Those gestures were repeated afterwards, perhaps aware that there was a difficult fact to address: in four shots on target, Madrid’s Saudi opponents scored three goals.
Lunin has conceded nine goals in the 10 games he has played this season, averaging a goal conceded every 100 minutes and keeping only three clean sheets.
He has a contract until 2024, so perhaps an expected outcome in these cases is either a renewal or a departure. Although he asked his father and agent not to comment on any offers because he has never contemplated leaving Real Madrid, he will review his situation in the summer.
The dressing room and coaching staff highlight his impeccable professionalism but the statistics are not with him.
Mario Cortegana
Al Hilal show their strength
Until Cristiano’s arrival at Al Nassr, Al Hilal were considered the most important team in Saudi Arabia, and no wonder. They have won the most Saudi league titles (18) and AFC Champions Leagues (four) of any side.
They have six foreign players in their ranks and 12 overall who played in the last Club World Cup. There is even still hope at the club that a player of Lionel Messi’s calibre could end up joining them.
Saudi Arabia, in its exploration of a 2030 World Cup bid, continues to bet on improving its domestic standard with foreign coaches such as Al Hilal’s Ramon Diaz, an old acquaintance of Ancelotti, whom he embraced before the game. The two men played against each other in the Italian league and met again four decades later in the final of a Club World Cup.
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Tonight, they ran Madrid closer than some might have expected, but the Spanish side had too much quality.
Guillermo Rai
(Top photo: James Williamson AMA/Getty Images)
The Athletic’s Spanish football coverage has expanded…
- La Liga news, La Liga table; La Liga fixtures and results
- Dermot Corrigan is joined by four new writers…
- Real Madrid news from Mario Cortegana and Guillermo Rai
- Barcelona news from Pol Ballús and Laia Cervelló Herrero