Gonzalo heads Real Madrid past Juventus and into Club World Cup quarters

New Straits Times

02-07-2025

MIAMI GARDENS, United States: Gonzalo Garcia's 54th-minute header was enough to give Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Juventus at Hard Rock Stadium on Tuesday and book their place in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup.
The Spanish giants will face the winner of Tuesday's other game between Borussia Dortmund and Mexico's Monterrey in the last eight.
It was an impressive display from Xabi Alonso's Madrid side and adding to a positive day, Kylian Mbappe made his return from illness, coming on as a 68th-minute substitute for his first appearance of the tournament.
The first half was a finely-balanced contest with Igor Tudor's Juventus starting brightly before Real ended it on top.
There was an early chance for Juve's Randal Kolo Muani after clever work from Kenan Yildiz to put him through on goal, but the French forward opted for an attempted chip of Thibaut Courtois and his shot floated over the bar.
The impressive Yildiz then burst through the middle and unleashed a fierce effort which deflected off Aurelien Tchouameni and flew wide.
The Turin team, beaten 5-2 by Manchester City in their final group game, were moving the ball around with confidence but Real grew into the contest and they went close when Jude Bellingham forced a save out of Michele Di Gregorio from close range.
Federico Valverde then tested the Juve goalkeeper from long range and Trent Alexander-Arnold whipped a low ball across the face of the goal as Madrid finished the half strongly.
The interval did nothing to alter the momentum of the game with Real creating several chances – Bellingham laid off to Valverde, whose sweetly-struck shot was just wide and then Bellingham himself brought another good save out of Di Gregorio with a shot from the edge of the box.
Dean Huijsen's rocketing drive was parried out by the busy goalkeeper as Real laid siege to the Juventus goal and it was no surprise when the breakthrough finally arrived.
Alexander-Arnold floated in a cross from the right which Gonzalo met with a perfectly-timed header for his third goal in four games in the tournament.
Juve responded with Portuguese winger Francisco Conceicao bringing Courtois into action from a low shot the Belgian shot-stopper did well to get down to.
But Real wanted to finish the contest off and Valverde tested Di Gregorio's reactions with an overhead kick before Alonso decided to introduce Mbappe to the delight of the 62,149 crowd.
Juve's belief remained however and Nicolas Gonzalez flashed a 25-yard drive just wide.
At the other end, Real's Turkish midfielder Arda Guler saw his crisp shot kept out by the feet of Di Gregorio, but the one goal was enough.
Alonso was pleased with his team's performance, including that of Gonzalo, who he had compared to former Real great Raul but also suggested that Mbappe might be ready for a bigger contribution in the next game.
"I think day by day he will be better, and from now until the quarter-finals on Saturday, in 3-4 days, he will be better. We will keep watching him. I talk to him every day about how he's feeling, and well, I think he will be much better for the quarters," he said.
Alonso said he was satisfied to see Real produce the necessary grit to grind out the result in the second half.
"We had to be patient, we had to mature into the game. We didn't score that second goal to give ourselves a bit more margin. But it is a knockout game and about it's competing in a tie. With the players and myself, you know you have to grit your teeth and do what you have to do. And in the end, we had to hold on a bit, and I'm happy about that too.
Juve boss Tudor said his team became exhausted as the game developed.
"In the end there were 10 of them asking to be substituted, obviously you can't do that but there was an incredible tiredness," he said adding there were three main reasons.
"There is the tension of the game which burns energy but then there is the heat and humidity," he said also noting they were at the end of a long season.