London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Real Madrid win fifth Club World Cup title

Real Madrid win fifth Club World Cup title

Vinicius Junior scores twice, assists Karim Benzema to lead Real Madrid to record-extending fifth Club World Cup title.
Real Madrid has won the Club World Cup for a record-extending fifth time after beating Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal 5-3 in the final in Rabat, Morocco.

Vinicius Junior scored twice and helped Karim Benzema with a third, while Federico Valverde added two more for the European champions in Saturday’s final.

Al-Hilal never led the match but showed it was no fluke that it had upset Brazil’s Flamengo to reach the decider in Morocco’s capital. Luciano Vietto scored twice and Moussa Marega once for the Asian champions.

Madrid last won the tournament in 2018. It also lifted the trophy in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

“Vinicius has been improving since last season just as the team has also grown. We won the Champions League and now the world title, and Vinicius has grown along the way,” said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“We are thrilled with what he is doing, above all because he keeps getting better. He is much more decisive now and is making the difference in every match.”

Benzema, meanwhile, was a mild surprise in Madrid’s starting lineup a day after 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 semifinal 4-1 win against Egyptian club Al Ahly on Wednesday.

The France striker cued the opener after he exchanged passes with Valverde and played Vinicius 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 its 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 was stymied until Vinicius made an exquisite pass to serve up a goal by Benzema.

The Brazil forward 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 Vinicius’s second goal, netting in the 63rd and 79th as Madrid’s defence failed to track the Argentinian in the box.

A late miss by Marega denied Al-Hilal a chance to go for a last-gasp equaliser.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×