Real Madrid eliminated Pachuca in their first victory in the Club World Cup
The Spanish played with a numerical disadvantage from the 7th minute, but their talent stood out and was behind a galvanizing victory
Real Madrid beat Pachuca 3-1 in Group H of the Club World Cup on Matchday 2 and are well placed to secure qualification for the round of 16 of the competition. The Mexican team, on the other hand, has already been eliminated from the competition after losing to Salzburg on Matchday 1.
New coach. New signings. Lots of enthusiasm… and Real Madrid drew with Al Hilal (1-1) in their Club World Cup opener. That had to change in the second round against Pachuca. But Raúl Asencio didn’t get the message and was sent off with a straight red card after 7 minutes for a foul on veteran Salomón Rondón near the Whites’ penalty area .The centre-back left the pitch with his head down, a mood that spread to the rest of the team. Robert Kenedy, who failed to make it at Chelsea, gave Courtois a scare (10′ and 19′), who saved a dangerous shot from Alan Bautista. Real needed to wake up and, perhaps, drink some water.
After a water break, Xabi Alonso changed the formation. He played in a 4x4x1 formation, with Vini alone up front, Gonzalo García on the left, Bellingham and Valverde in the middle and Guler on the right. The Englishman took advantage of this positioning to appear in the area and open the scoring (35′).Bellingham spread his arms and put his hands behind his ears. A new contagious attitude, this one having a positive effect. Real Madrid played with the healthy arrogance of those who know their quality and scored again (43′): Vini switched the flank to Trent, who found Gonzalo García and the youngster perfectly assisted Arda Guler.
Presidential attack
Kenedy and Kennedy. One has one more N than the other. Both are Brazilian, forwards and Pachuca players. To make things easier: Robert Kenedy started and forced Courtois to make a few saves, before leaving the field in the 60th minute. John Kennedy came on at half-time and did the same.
The Mexican team’s players exploited the space between the lines behind the Real midfielders, who had some difficulty in clearing the danger. Unlike Courtois, who was a pillar of enormous consistency and quality.
But there was little he could do in the 56th minute: in a set piece studied by Pachuca, Federico Pereira appeared at the far post to head the ball and Salomón Rondón, looking for his 21st goal of the season, made the save in the six-yard box, coming just inches away from giving the team a glimmer of hope.
Xabi Alonso still doesn’t smile
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Dean Huijsen is starting to look serious – for some reason Real paid €60 million for him from Bournemouth. The 20-year-old was a solid defensive player and started several plays, one of which was the start of Real’s third and decisive goal.
A long ball made Vini stretch the Pachuca defense, the Brazilian passed to Valverde who left the ball to Brahim Díaz, with the Moroccan returning the ball to the Uruguayan with a perfect cross (70′), which practically sealed the defeat and elimination of Pachuca… who never turned their backs on the fight.
Elias Montiel (82′) gave the Mexicans hope, with Courtois only being beaten due to a tricky deflection of the ball off Tchouaméni. The Belgian once again said “Present!” to a dangerous shot from Carlos Sánchez (85′). Defensive solidity will certainly be an aspect that needs to be worked on for this new Real Madrid, who have only conceded one goal while playing almost always with just 10 men.
It was the first victory of the Xabi Alonso era at Real Madrid, which leaves the team in a good position to secure qualification for the round of 16 of the Club World Cup against Salzburg in the final round of the group stage.
