Real Madrid victory over Juventus 1-0 in Club World Cup
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami — Real Madrid have beaten Juventus 1-0 in the round of 16 at the Club World Cup thanks to Gonzalo Garcia’s headed goal from close range in the 54th minute.
Kylian Mbappe came off the bench to make his first appearance in this tournament after recovering from acute gastroenteritis.
Madrid will face Borussia Dortmund or Monterrey in the quarter-final.
Alonso once again deployed a 5-3-2 system against the record Serie A champions, but his side looked vulnerable defensively in the first half and were fortunate not to fall behind in the early stages.
Randal Kolo Muani spurned a golden opportunity to give Juventus the lead when he sent a looping effort over the crossbar after he was sent racing clear by Kenan Yildiz, who had a powerful long-range drive deflected wide moments later.
Madrid’s best chance of the first half fell to Jude Bellingham, who was denied from a tight angle by the impressive Michele di Gregorio, while Federico Valverde was also thwarted by a magnificent one-handed stop by the 27-year-old.
The Juventus goalkeeper did brilliantly to deny Bellingham and Dean Huijsen early in the second half, but Garcia’s thumping header was too powerful to keep out.
Club World Cup, Gonzalo Garcia is the only player in the tournament to have directly contributed to a goal in all of his team’s matches.
Quite an impressive run of performances by the 21-year-old tasked with filling in for Kylian Mbappe.
Juventus raised eyebrows in their first two matches when they scored nine goals. But, as soon as they came up better opposition, they came unstuck.
Manchester City made light work of them in the final group-stage game and they didn’t put Real Madrid under any real pressure in the second leg of today’s game.
