Courtesy: FIFA
On Wednesday, December 18, Real Madrid won the FIFA Intercontinental Cup after defeating Mexican side Pachuca in the final in Qatar with a 3-0 margin, dominating the contest from start to finish. At the Lusail Stadium, three of top Real Madrid players, namely Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo, and Vinicius Jr scored the goals, to secure the Galacticos a big trophy in the middle of the ongoing 2024-25 club football season.
In the first half, Kylian Mbapped buried the ghosts of the FIFA World Cup final from two years ago at the Lusail Stadium, putting his name on the scoresheet in the 37th minute with a simple tap-in from close range after Vinicius Jr had managed to round the Pachuca goal-keeper Carlos Moreno. Just seven minutes into the second half, Rodrygo made it 2-0 in favour of Real Madrid with a stunning curling effort from the edge of the box in the 53rd minute.
Real Madrid register dominating win over Pachuca in FIFA Intercontinental Cup final
The goal was reviewed on the pitchside monitor, and it stood for Rodrygo after the referee deemed that Jude Bellingham had no interference with play while being in an offside situation. Pachuca had their captain Salomon Rondon struck a stunning free kick from long range, which put Real Madrid goal-keeper Thibaut Courtois under some worry, only for it to go over the crossbar.
Vinicius Jr put the contest firmly past Pachuca in the 84th after he slotted home a penalty past their goal-keeper, to make it 3-0 scoreline for Real Madrid in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final. He was given the chance to take the penalty after Lucas Vazquez was brought down by Pachuca’s Oussama Idrissi by having his right leg sticking to the opposition player’s left knee.
Overall, it was quite a good last couple of days for Vinicius Jr in Qatar, winning the coveted men’s player of the year award at the FIFA Best Awards before taking home the Intercontinental Cup title with Real Madrid.
