Real Madrid secured their place in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) with a narrow 1-0 victory over Juventus, extending their unbeaten streak at the tournament to 14 matches.
The Xabi Alonso era at Madrid has started strongly with consecutive wins, but they were tested significantly by a resilient Juventus side.
This challenge was evident in the opening 10 minutes as Madrid found themselves defending deeply. They were fortunate not to concede early when Randal Kolo Muani got clear on goal, but his clever chip over Thibaut Courtois ended up on the roof of the net.
Madrid managed to escape another close call soon after when a strike from Kenan Yıldız took a deflection off Aurelien Tchouameni and narrowly missed the post.
It took half an hour for Madrid to create a genuine goal-scoring opportunity, and when it did arise, they were remarkably unlucky not to take the lead. Jude Bellingham, a constant threat, broke through the Juventus defence but saw his shot saved by Michele Di Gregorio, with Daniele Rugani clearing the ball off the line afterwards.
Di Gregorio’s routine save seemed pedestrian compared to his stunning stop on Federico Valverde’s powerful strike just before half-time, as he hurled himself across his goal to push the ball around the post.
Valverde had the first genuine opportunity of the second half, seizing on a loose ball in the box and curling a shot just wide of the target.
This proved to be a brief reprieve for Juventus, as Madrid soon took the lead. Trent Alexander-Arnold has taken some time to find his feet as a Galactico, but he showed his quality with a trademark cross that was met by Gonzalo Garcia, who nodded in the opener.
The excitement didn’t end there, as Kylian Mbappé made his return after recovering from acute gastroenteritis, immediately making an impact by assisting Arda Güler, whose low shot was stopped by Di Gregorio’s legs.
Despite Di Gregorio’s heroics in goal, Juventus failed to secure a much-needed equaliser and were eliminated in the round of 16 during their CWC debut.
Having progressed to the last eight, Madrid are hitting their stride at an opportune moment, remaining unbeaten in their last seven matches across all competitions.
For more details on the match, check here.
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Compiled by SportArena.com.au.
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