FIFA CWC: European Kings Real Madrid Reign Supreme In Morocco

Real Madrid won the Club World Cup for a record fifth time after beating Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia 5-3 in the final on Saturday, with braces from Federico Valverde and Vinicius Jr and a goal from Karim Benzema.

Real never looked like giving the game away at the Prince Moulay Abdallah stadium, despite allowing their opponents to score three times, with Luciano Vietto also scoring a brace.

The Moroccan fans, who created a raucous atmosphere, enjoyed a string of goals that started earlier on, with the European champions opening the scoring in the 13th minute.
A nice combo between Valverde and Benzema, led Vinicius in, and the Brazilian slipped behind the defense to score from close range.

Valverde extended Real’s lead five minutes later with a rebound, but Al Hilal responded with a classic counter-attacking move that led to a goal from Moussa Marega.

Real controlled the tempo and had almost 70 per cent of the ball, but they were repeatedly exposed in defence, with Marega and Vietto causing problems in one-on-one situations against Antonio Rudiger and Eduardo Camavinga, who once again played as makeshift left-back.

Vinicius was the center of attention after the break, with the Brazilian showing off his skills against the Al Hilal defense, and the crowd going up every time the he moveed down the left side.

Vinicius served Benzema for Real’s third goal with a brilliant cross from the outside of the boot in the 54th minute, before Valverde drilled in at the 58th minute from close range.

Vietto reduced the score for Al Hilal five minutes later, but any hope of a comeback was quickly dashed when Vinicius added another goal for Real in the 69th minute, finishing neatly after playing the ball between the legs of a defender.

Vietto scored his second goal of the night 10 minutes later to wrap up a goal-scoring encounter that delighted the Moroccan fans.

Having also won three Intercontinental Cups, a predecessor to the Club World Cup which pitted the European and South American champions against each other, Real have a combined total of eight world titles.

The next most successful teams are AC Milan and Bayern Munich with four titles each in both competitions.