Al-Hilal put up brave fight in 5-3 defeat to Real Madrid in Club World Cup final

RABAT: Al-Hilal will have to wait to be world champions after losing 5-3 to Real Madrid in an entertaining final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Rabat on Saturday but they return to Riyadh with their heads held high and Saudi Arabian’s reputation enhanced.

It was always going to be tough to defeat the star-studded European champions and so it proved but losing to the most successful team in the history of the sport is no disgrace especially when you score three goals.

In the 4-1 win over Al-Ahly of Egypt three days previously, the Spanish superclub had looked vulnerable at the back and so it was again as Al-Hilal caused plenty of problems. At the other end of the pitch however, it was a different matter however as Carlo Ancelotti’s men quickly found their rhythm and just had too much quality.

The now five-time world champions took the lead after 12 minutes with a well-worked goal. Karim Benzama slipped Vinicius Junior through to the left side of the area and while Abdullah Al-Mayouf got a foot to the Brazilian’s low shot, he couldn’t keep it out. 

It was a blow but a minute later, Hilal came close to an instant reply as Luciano Vietto’s shot from outside the area had Andriy Lunin scrambling across his line to make a save but the ball went just centimetres wide of the Ukranian’s right-hand post. 

Then it got worse in the 18th minute. Al-Hilal failed to clear and Federico Valverde’s low shot went through the legs of Ali Al-Bulaihi and into the back of the net. Now the Blues had a mountain to climb and as Los Blancos continued to stream forward, there were fears of falling further behind.

But then it was 2-1. A perfect through ball from Mohamed Kanno inside the Hilal half sent Moussa Marega free just to the right of