Real Madrid claimed a 3-1 win over Mexican side Pachuca in an exciting FIFA Club World Cup clash on Sunday evening.
Pachuca started the game with great energy and were aggressive from the first whistle. Salomon Rondon gave the Real Madrid defence plenty of problems early on, especially Raul Asencio. After just seven minutes, Asencio was shown a straight red card for bringing down Rondon, who was through on goal.
The red card gave Madrid a bit of a wake-up call, but Pachuca continued to dominate the early stages. Thibaut Courtois had to make a strong double save in the 18th minute to keep Madrid in the match. Despite having more star players, Madrid were being outplayed and outworked in the opening part of the game.
But against the run of play, Madrid scored first. After some clever play on the left wing, Francisco Garcia passed to Jude Bellingham, who calmly finished with his left foot into the bottom corner, giving goalkeeper Carlos Moreno no chance.
Just eight minutes later, Madrid doubled their lead. This time it was Arda Guler who scored, finishing off a brilliant move with quick one-touch passing. The Turkish youngster slotted the ball into the bottom corner to cap off a fantastic team goal. Although Pachuca had more players on the pitch, Madrid were now in full control and looked much stronger going into half-time with a 2-0 lead.
Pachuca made some changes at the break, including bringing on John Kennedy, who added more threat in attack. He tested Courtois a few times with long shots, but the Belgian keeper stayed solid.
Despite Pachuca’s efforts to fight back, Madrid struck again in the 70th minute. Dean Huijsen started a lovely move with a through ball to Vinicius Junior, who then passed to Federico Valverde. The Uruguayan played it out wide to Brahim Diaz, who returned it to Valverde in the box for an easy finish. That made it 3-0 and seemed to end the match as a contest.
Pachuca did manage to score a consolation goal 10 minutes later through Elias Montiel. His long-range shot took a big deflection, but it beat Courtois and made it 3-1.
There were a few heated moments near the end involving Antonio Rudiger and some Pachuca players, but nothing serious happened. The final whistle blew, and Real Madrid walked away with a well-earned 3-1 win.
