The punch of Madrid breaks the resistance of Al-Ahly

If Real Madrid were looking for a balm in the Club World Cup, they have not yet found it, at least in terms of sensations. The bulk of the result against a good Al-Ahly was misleading, as the European champion struck at the end but suffered during practically the entire game to comply with the planned script. He avoided a huge tumble that at times seemed possible and qualified for the tournament final.

The best news of his victory was the return of goals by Vinicius and Valverde, two basic pieces in the doldrums in recent games for different reasons, the good level of Rodrygo and the debut director of youth squad Arribas. The bad, beyond the tightness of the duel until the discount, was personified by Camavinga, until now a neat emergency solution for the left back who in Rabat made water, causing a penalty and allowing the African runner-up to find a reason for his area to dream of surprise

And it is that the biggest club in Africa was respected despite the suspicions caused by the tournament, full of teams unknown to the European fan. The Egyptian team ceded control of the ball to their rival. Nothing that was not expected. The question was the ability of a diminished Madrid to open the bolt of his rival and his strength to protect himself from the opposing counters.

With two very close defensive lines and a huge defensive effort, the Cairo team forced Madrid to combine without spaces, with Rodrygo in positions too far from the area. He promised to jam the game, with no other option than a very focused header from Rüdiger. It is not that the African team stretched much, but an error by Camavinga when it came to throwing offside -improvised defense things- gave Sherif the option of warning with a high shot.

Madrid could not find the access route to the rival area, with Vinicius tied short and without the spaces he needs to deploy his electricity. In addition, the second Egyptian warning, through Abdelmonem’s header, did not help to improve the thick Madrid feelings.

The representative of the Old Continent breathed in a couple of sparks from Vinicius, who finished off wide without an angle, and from Rodrygo, who stole with intelligence, dribbled on a tile and skillfully chipped it over El Shenawy to run into the wood. However, the defensive left side was an important waterway, weighed down by Camavinga’s doubts far from his usual domain.

Madrid had already regained control through possession, but without depth, when an error by the Egyptian defense finally opened the door for the European champions to score. Vinicius was attentive to the robbery in a critical area, stood up to the rival goalkeeper and stung him without any doubt to put Madrid ahead. The Brazilian was looking for an oasis of peace in the face of the noise that has surrounded his figure in recent days and he found it in Morocco.

The advantage not only brought peace of mind at half-time, it also crumbled the commendable Egyptian resistance, seriously hit after the break with the second white goal, the work of Valverde. The Uruguayan culminated a good previous action with skill, seasoned by Modric’s magnificent pass and great control on Rodrygo’s turn that the player from São Paulo blurred by missing El Shenawy.

on the razor’s edge

Madrid found themselves in the final and was able to sentence the stake in a hypothetical penalty on Vinicius that the VAR reviewed but before which the Uruguayan Matonte asserted his criteria as a field referee. The fact is that when everything seemed under control, Camavinga showed even more that his apparent adaptation to the left-back is far from being a convincing solution. The Frenchman overwhelmed Elshahat in the Madrid area and Maaloul injected emotion into the dispute from eleven meters away.

Madrid lived on the edge of the knife in the decisive stretch of the match, with the African runner-up freed from any complex. In a round-trip duel, very open, the slightest advantage made the favorite theorist hold his breath. Not even the reliable Modric avoided emotion until the discount, as he missed from the fateful point after a penalty to Vinicius charged by the VAR.

It was another burst of quality between Ceballos, successful in the final stretch after coming off the bench, and Rodrygo, one of the best of Madrid, which allowed Madrid to breathe already in added time. The youth player Arribas sealed with his scoring debut an epilogue much better than the bulk of the match.