Real Madrid fulfilled the predictions and easily won the Intercontinental Cup against Mexican Pachuca in Doha, its second tournament of the season after the European Super Cup won against Atalanta in August. This is the fourth Intercontinental in its history and the ninth if the club world championships are added. Pachuca was spirited but innocent and had a great game, surpassed when the whites put a little intensity into the game.
In a Lusail stadium with half an inning (with extensive support for Madrid) Ancelotti recovered Mbappé as a center forward and returned to the 4-3-3 accompanied by the Frenchman on the wings by Vinícius and Rodrygo.
System change
Madrid returned to 4-3-3
Returning to three midfielders and not four left Madrid with less fluidity and the worst thing was that it took Bellingham, the fittest player, away from the danger zones, where lately he had had enough of scoring goals in a streak that was reminiscent of the best Bellingham from last season.
The script of the match was very similar to many of the targets of this course. Madrid returned to their old ways because they did not appear during the first twenty minutes. He came out asleep as if he did not take the tournament or the rival seriously and was very dominated by Pachuca while Ancelotti looked desperate on the wing and shouted for his team to wake up. In these circumstances, Madrid survived, protected by the usual, a couple of good interventions by Courtois, which turned out to be insurmountable for Pachuca.
Nor is it that the Mexicans were a prodigy of imagination in attacking play. Rondón, their veteran Venezuelan center forward, with a past at Málaga, was missing and his greatest danger was in the attack on the wing of the Dutchman Idrissi, known in Spanish football because he was at Sevilla.
The first goal
Mabppé culminates a great collective action
A distant shot from Luis Rodríguez and a center shot from Idrissi was the most dangerous thing for Pachuca, which little by little slowed down. Madrid was getting hold of the ball but it was difficult for them to play it with judgment, especially because Camavinga, very active, was very flawed in distribution and even Bellingham himself was incorrect in fairly simple passes.
Madrid’s dominance became very clear after half an hour. He went from hitting long balls behind the defenders’ backs to touching and touching although his strength is not exactly breaking down defenses in a low block.
After a couple of threats by Vinícius and Mbappé, Madrid scored with their first shot on goal, in the 37th minute, in a great collective play, by far the most brilliant of the game so far. Bellingham opened for Vinícius, who in a display of power left the scoreboard and instead of shooting he gave a pass to Mbappé, who finished by falling and unbalanced the score.
The goal left Pachuca very touched and Madrid looked for the second goal before the break but they were not very good in their decisions near the area and the Mexican team was able to start the second half with a different spirit.
The second half
Rodrygo scored on a personal play
As soon as the second half began, in the 53rd minute, Rodrygo scored after several attempts and a shot that took a turn and beat Carlos Moreno, although the play was reviewed in the VAR because Bellingham was crouched in the path of the shot. The referee went to the monitor and validated the goal because he understood that the Englishman was not disturbing the goalkeeper’s vision.
If Madrid’s first goal felt terrible for Pachuca, the second gave them a mental boost. While Ancelotti removed Mbappé for Brahim and Camavinga for Ceballos, Pachuca went up with courage to score a goal that would put them in the game.
Rondón took a good shot to which Courtois responded better and Madrid began to live only on the counters. Modric came on for Rodrygo to further support the game because Pachuca continued to get dangerously close. Rondón headed high for another good chance but it was Madrid who had the clearest chance.
In the 81st minute, after much review on the VAR monitor, the referee gave a penalty from Idrissi to Lucas Vazquez. Vinícius didn’t shoot it too well, but he scored. Madrid complied and did not spend too much. Objective achieved. Sevilla awaits on Sunday to close the year.
#Real #Madrid #thrashes #Pachuca #breaking #sweat
