Real Madrid defeated Borussia (Dortmund) 3:2 in an attractive quarter-final of the Club World Cup, which was played at the “MetLife” stadium in East Rutherford, sportal.bg reported.
Xabi Alonso's team quickly took the lead with two goals after early goals by Gonzalo Garcia (10'), who scored for the fourth time in the tournament, and Fran Garcia (20'). The match went quite leisurely for the "Kings" and nothing foreshadowed the storm that arose in front of both gates in the last seconds of the match. First, reserve Maximilian Bayer scored for the Germans in the extra time of the match (90+3'), but immediately after that, Kylian Mbappe, who came off the bench, seemed to finally seal the victory of the Spanish giants with a beautiful side scissors (90+4'). Seconds later, however, Real defender Dean Hausen scored a penalty and was sent off with a direct red card, and Seru Girassi reduced the score from the penalty spot (90+8') to 3:2.
In the last moments of the match, Thibaut Courtois even had to show his class and save an extremely dangerous shot by Marcel Sabitzer, which could sensationally send the match into extra time. So the "kings" moved on and will compete for a place in the final in a star-studded clash with Paris Saint-Germain, who had earlier defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 in a gladiatorial battle.
So Real defeated their rival again, after the match was a repeat of the Champions League final from the 2023/24 season, when the Spanish giants won 2-0. After that, the two teams played another match - in October 2024 in the group stage of the same tournament, and then the “Kings” were even more convincing with a score of 5-2. In these matches, the star of “Los Blancos” Vinicius scored a total of 4 goals, but today he failed to score.
Real is now on a streak of four consecutive victories in the tournament, with the last two being without conceding a goal. New coach Xabi Alonso is still unable to use Eduardo Camavinga and Ferland Mendy.
The Real Madrid coach fielded exactly the same squad that won against Juventus 1-0 in the round of 16. The big star Kylian Mbappe was again on the bench, as the discovery of “los Blancos“ - young Gonzalo Garcia was again the starter, and together with Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior led the attack. The team's formation was again with three in defense, with Antonio Rüdiger, Aurelien Chuameni and Dean Hausen in defense.
The biggest problem for Borussia (Dortmund) before the match was the suspension of new signing Job Bellingham, which deprived him of the opportunity to face his brother Jude. Niko Kovac made two changes compared to the success against Monterrey 2-1 in the previous match. In place of the little Bellingham, Julian Brandt came into play, who helped Seru Girassi and Karim Adeyemi in attack. In addition, Marcel Sabitzer was preferred to Felix Nmecha in the midfield.
The first opportunity of the match came in the 5th minute and was for the Germans. Daniel Svensson crossed well from the left, but Julian Brandt's header was inaccurate. Just five minutes later, however, Real managed to take the lead. Arda Guler crossed wonderfully from the left, and Gonzalo Garcia was left uncovered and left uncovered, intercepted into the net of Gregor Kobel - 1:0 for "los blancos".
As if they had not yet recovered from the shock, Borussia conceded a second goal after ten minutes. Gonzalo Garcia found Trent Alexander-Arnold, who crossed from the right parallel, and the running Fran Garcia slammed the ball into the net - 2:0 for Real Madrid. In the 27th minute, the Spaniards could have decided everything early on when Jude Bellingham advanced and shot dangerously, but the ball went just wide. Borussia tried to get back into the game quickly, but only managed a dangerous blocked shot by Brandt. In the 40th minute, Vinicius could have scored a third goal, but his cross went over Kobell's goal.
After a poor first half for his team, the coach of the "yellow and black" Niko Kovac reacted and made a triple substitution, putting Maximilian Bayer, Felix Nmecha and Jan Couto into play. A relatively calm first 15 minutes of the second half followed. In the 60th minute, the Bayer reserve tested Thibaut Courtois with a shot, but the Belgian caught it. Eight minutes later, Xabi Alonso also made a triple substitution and took Trent, Bellingham and Vinicius out of the game. Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric and Dani Ceballos appeared on the field. The Croatian did not waste much time and in the 74th minute he fired a precise shot, which, however, was caught by Kobel.
A minute later, the other reserve Mbappe broke through from the right and shot dangerously, but the Swiss goalkeeper of Dortmund managed to clear. Until the end of the match, the Germans tried a spontaneous pressure, but only came to an inaccurate long-range shot by the reserve Karni Chukwuemeka. In the continuation of the match, Real's success could have become even more convincing, but Kobel saved a shot by Valverde, and shots by Arda Guler and Antonio Rüdiger were inaccurate. And when it seemed that the match was decided, the explosive last seconds of the match followed. First, after a mistake by Rüdiger, Maximilian Bayer managed to reduce to 2:1.
Immediately after that, Real regained the lead of two goals, when Arda Guler found Kylian Mbappe and the Frenchman exploded with a side scissors, scoring his first goal of the championship - 3:1 for the "kings" in the fourth minute of extra time. However, that was not all in the match. In the very next attack, Dean Hausen brought down Seru Girassi in the penalty area and was sent off with a straight red card. It was the injured Borussia striker who stood on the penalty spot and converted the penalty, which reduced the score to just 3:2 for Real Madrid. In the very last seconds of the match, the Germans could have reached a sensational draw and extra time, but Courtois made a last-ditch effort to save a very dangerous shot from Marcel Sabitzer's penalty area. Thus, Real Madrid eventually qualified for the semi-finals.