Real Madrid held firm against a late surge from Dortmund, narrowly escaping a nail-biting finish to book their spot in the Club World Cup semi-final. With nerves tested and momentum swinging, Los Blancos now turn their focus to a high-stakes showdown against PSG.
Madrid’s Grit Tested: Late Drama Sets Up Blockbuster Clash with PSG
Real Madrid have arranged an encounter with Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup semi-final despite a messy final 10 minutes, allowing Kylian Mbappé an opportunity to play his old team on a grand stage after he struck a wonderful acrobatic goal in a 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Xabi Alonso’s Madrid seemed quite in charge for the majority of the game, until a stunning stoppage time made for nervy moments and Thibaut Courtois’s desperate save ensured the win. That dramatic finish to what was otherwise a run-of-the-mill match also involved a late red card awarded to Real Madrid’s Dean Huijsen, the great new signing in central defence, who will sit out the semi-final for deliberately taking down Serhou Guirassy immediately after Mbappé’s amazing volley for Real Madrid’s third.Most of the game was dominated by Real Madrid, Gonzalo García scoring the opening goal for his fourth of the tournament and the left-back Fran García (not related) scoring the second – his first in 52 appearances this campaign.But though the closing minutes were perhaps the most gripping stretch of play of this game for any of the 76,611 who packed MetLife stadium to 93% of listed capacity, it was the Garcías’ work and Real Madrid’s overall play throughout the previous 90 minutes that best exemplified what the Spanish giants might be like this coming season under Alonso.
When the former Bayer Leverkusen manager took over the club he used to play for after Carlo Ancelotti’s disappointing final season
the Club World Cup kicked off in just over two weeks. The start of a major standalone tournament coming so soon after a new manager appointment is far from the norm, but Alonso’s intentions were clear.
I look at it as a chance for two reasons,” he explained. “One, in that we can speed things up, get to know each other quicker, watch things that we want to be. Then it’s an opportunity to fight for another trophy. If we can combine those two then it can be a very good beginning.It has been a great beginning, in fact. On Saturday, like they had done all this time during the tournament thus far, Alonso’s Real Madrid smoothly blended young talent that appeared poised to leap into the big time, their performances taking Real to the threshold of an opportunity at that cup in the Club World Cup final.
The strikes were two of two players who embody the important role youth development still holds in a star-packed Madrid side. Both were products of the club’s academy, and both presented threats throughout the game apart from their goals.
The assists, on the other hand, appear to prove that the Spanish giant’s preparation for the future after Luka Modric is on track. 20-year-old Turkey international Arda Guler was again excellent, assisting Gonzalo García’s opener and causing general discomfort to a nervous Dortmund backline all 90 minutes. In defense of the backline, Huijsen took charge of proceedings just behind the excellent Aurélien Tchouaméni in defensive midfield. The duo, and Huijsen’s central defence partner Antonio Rüdiger, prevented Dortmund from posing much of a threat if any – at least before Huijsen’s red card and the ensuing madness.
These quietly effective performances remind one of the best that Alonso was able to do in his stint as the coach of Bayer Leverkusen. But it is still Real Madrid, and there are still superstars who can improvise great things. Vinícius Júnior, as ever, was good for a few of those moments, attempting at one point a daring chip from 30-plus yards that nevertheless sailed high and wide.
And then, naturally, there was Mbappé. The French superstar is yet to find his feet after being hospitalized with gastroenteritis, an illness that weighed 5kg off his body and presumably days of training and getting into rhythm with his new manager and teammates. With the added lightness, however, Mbappé gave the game its defining moment in that iconic stoppage time, suspended in air to connect with a cross on a sideways scissor kick from close range that whizzed past Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel and into the net, thrilled the almost-capacity crowd.
Now, Mbappé will hope to be fully fit and one can imagine he will be breaking down Alonso’s door begging to start a headline semi-final at this same venue on Wednesday, his first chance to face the team with whom he became a World Cup winner and a global superstar.
When he was introduced to his new players, Alonso established “to see the things we want to be” and “to win a trophy” as his objectives. “If we can combine those two things then it can be a very good beginning,” he stated.
That good beginning is now only one victory away from yet another grand final for Los Merengues.
