Real Madrid Defeats Al Ain to Retain FIFA Club World Cup Title

  • 12/23/2018
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Real Madrid defeated United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain on Saturday to retain the FIFA Club World Cup championship for a record fourth time. The Spanish club defeated Al Ain 4-1 in the Abu Dhabi-hosted final. Recently crowned Ballon dOr winner Luka Modric took one touch before thumping the ball into the bottom corner from outside the box to break the deadlock in the 14th minute after Al Ain had missed two early chances to take a shock lead. Madrids home-grown midfielder Marcos Llorente doubled the European champions lead on the hour-mark with a superbly struck volley from outside the area. Real captain Sergio Ramos grabbed his sides third goal with a powerful header from a corner before Al Ain, who shocked South American champions River Plate in the semi-finals, got a late consolation goal through Japanese defender Tsukasa Shiotani. Madrid substitute Vinicius Jr. burst through in stoppage and fired in a shot which defender Yahia Nader diverted into his own net. "These players deserve it. Theyre here after working very hard and winning many trophies," said Real coach Santiago Solari. "Today they added a finishing touch with the third consecutive Club World Cup, which I think is a great feat for the club, of course for Real Madrid and this group of players in particular." "This is what we expected from ourselves, what we have been working on every week," said Llorente after scoring his first goal for the club. "Its my first for the senior team, and what could be better than in this final." Real have won the last three editions of the tournament, also lifting the trophy in 2014, and moved ahead of Barcelona as the team to have won it the most times.

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