Madrid defeat Ahly in thrilling semi-final

RABAT, 8th February, 2023 (WAM) — Real Madrid survived a spirited Al Ahly fightback to defeat Al Ahly 4-1 and book a FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2022™ final against Al Hilal. Goals from Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde, Rodrygo and Sergio Arribas proved enough for a 4-1 win.

After a guarded opening, the game exploded into life midway through the first half. Mohamed Sherif blasted the ball over following an intricate Al Ahly move, Vinicius clipped the ball just wide from an acute angle, and Rodrygo hit the outside of the post after a solo run.

On the stroke of the interval, however, Rodrygo slipped Vinicius through on goal and the latter dinked the ball over Mohamed Elshenawy to break the deadlock.

The advantage was doubled within moments of the restart. Rodrygo’s shot was parried into the path of Valverde, who faked the shot, cut inside his opponent, and slotted the ball home.

If Real fans thought that was job done, they were wrong. Hussein Elshahat, a constant torment to the Spaniards, was brought down by Eduardo Camavinga inside the box, and Ali Maaloul tucked away the resulting penalty.

Al Ahly almost equalised moments later, as Elshahat continued to pester down the right and cut the ball back towards an unmarked Mohamed Afsha twelve yards out, but the forward blazed his first time effort over the bar.

Real threatened to pull away late on down the other end, though, and while Luka Modric saw his 87th minute penalty saved by Mohammed Elshenawy, Rodrygo made the game save two minutes into added time when he chipped the goalkeeper at the end of a flowing Madrid move.

There was just about enough time for Carlo Ancelotti’s men to add a fourth, when youngster Sergio Arribas showed composure to fire home a left footed effort from just inside the box to round off the scoring for Los Blancos.

Real will now face Al Hilal in Saturday’s final, while Al Ahly will take on Flamengo in the match for third-place.