Black Immigrant Daily News
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Vin?cius J?nior scored twice and assisted Karim Benzema to lead Real Madrid to their record-extending eighth Club World Cup title by beating Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal 5-3 in the final on Saturday.
Federico Valverde added two more goals for the European champions in a final that turned into a shootout. Al-Hilal never led but showed it was no fluke that they upset Brazil’s Flamengo to reach the decider in Morocco’s capital.
Vin?cius has been the target of racist slurs in the Spanish league and even had his effigy hung from a bridge, but has not let that negatively impact his performances.
The Brazil forward, who scored the only goal when Madrid beat Liverpool in last season’s Champions League final, leads Madrid with 16 across all competitions.
Vin?cius opened the scoring in the 13th minute and curled home Madrid’s fifth and final goal in the 69th.
Luciano Vietto scored twice and Moussa Marega once for the Asian champions, who fell behind early and never got closer than 2-1 by halftime.
Madrid also won the Club World Cup following triumphs in the Champions League in 2014 and from 2016-18. They won other versions of the world title in 1960, 1998 and 2002.
Benzema was a mild surprise in Madrid’s starting lineup a day after Carlo Ancelotti said it was touch-and-go if he could play at all. The Ballon d’Or holder missed Madrid’s last two games, including the 4-1 win against Egyptian club Al Ahly on Wednesday.
The France striker cued the opener after he exchanged passes with Valverde and played Vin?cius clear to beat goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf, who got a leg to the shot but not enough to keep it from landing in his net.
Valverde smashed a poor clearance between the legs of a defender, who deflected it slightly before it whizzed past Al-Mayouf, to double the advantage in the 18th.
But after struggling in the opening period to even connect three passes, Al-Hilal found their stride after Marega caught Madrid’s backline trying to spring an offside trap in the 26th. The former Porto striker streaked away unbothered, sized up Andriy Lunin and fired past Madrid’s backup goalie, who started for the injured Thibaut Courtois.
The goal settled Al-Hilal and Madrid were stymied until Vin?cius made an exquisite pass to serve up a goal by Benzema.
Vin?cius used the outside edge of his right boot to bend a short cross around a defender and meet Benzema’s darting move. Benzema did the rest by using one touch to blast it into the top of the net in the 54th.
Valverde added his second in the 58th.
Vietto scored on either side of Vin?cius’ second goal, netting in the 63rd and 79th as Madrid’s defense failed to track the Argentine in the box.
A late miss by Marega denied providing Al-Hilal a chance to go for a last-gasp equalizer.
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