Photo: Mark Szczuka
From Mark Szczuka, Abu Dhabai
Saturday 22 December 2018
Real Madrid were re-crowned World Champions last night after winning the FIFA World Club Cup by defeating Asian Champions Al Ain 4-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi.
Despite the disappointment of the departures in the summer of their manager Zinedine Zidane and star-striker Christiano Ronaldo and the resulting drop in domestic form (4th currently in La Liga), Real Madrid still managed to successfully become the first club in history to win three consecutive World Championships, having qualified by winning the last three UEFA Champions Leagues.
2018 FIFA World player of the year Luka Modric opened the scoring for Real Madrid in the first half. There were further goals for Marcos Llorente and Real’s captain Sergio Ramos before Al Ain scored a late consolation goal in the 86th minute and then helped Real restore their two goal advantage by scoring an own goal in the 91st minute.
Earlier in the afternoon Argentinian side River Plate comfortably defeated Kashima Antlers from Japan 4-0 in the 3rd / 4th match.
The Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi will once again be the centre of World Football’s attention when the Asian Cup kicks off in exactly two weeks time with host nation United Arab Emirates kicking off the tournament against neighbours Bahrain.
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