Skip to main content

Ronaldo scores hat-trick as Madrid wins Club World Cup

Madrid players celebrate their victory

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid survived a scare to beat Japanese side Kashima Antlers in extra time and win the Club World Cup.

Real took the lead in the ninth minute through Karim Benzema, but Gaku Shibasaki scored either side of half-time to put Kashima in front.

Ronaldo levelled from the penalty spot on the hour mark after Lucas Vazquez was fouled by Shuto Yamamoto.

The Ballon d’Or winner put his side ahead in extra time after being played through by Benzema, and completed his hat-trick seven minutes later.

Victory gave Real their second Club World Cup and extended their unbeaten run to 37 games in all competitions.

It also means nine of the past 10 winners of the competition have come from Europe.

The Champions League winners looked set for a comfortable afternoon when Benzema put them ahead, and they dominated possession in the opening stages.

But Kashima – the first Japanese team to reach a Club World Cup final – impressed in an entertaining game, and Shibasaki took both goals well.

Indeed, after Ronaldo’s equalising penalty, Kashima had the better chances late in normal time.

First Keylor Navas saved a long-range strike from Fabricio, then Yasushi Endo shot wide at the back post with the final kick of the 90 minutes. At 3-2 down, Yuma Suzuki hit the bar with a header.

The Japanese side also felt Real captain Sergio Ramos should have been sent off in normal time when he appeared to body-check an opponent when on a yellow card.

Referees used video replays to review several decisions during the competition, but Janny Sikazwe chose not take a second look at this incident.

“The referee lacked courage, which was regrettable,” said Kashima coach Masatada Ishii.

Victory for Ronaldo capped an impressive year for the forward, coming six days after he won the Ballon d’Or, awarded to the world’s best player.

He scored the winning penalty in Real’s Champions League final victory over Atletico Madrid in May, before captaining Portugal to Euro 2016 success in the summer.

His hat-trick in Yokohama was the first in a Club World Cup final, and he is now the joint-top scorer in the competition’s history with five goals.

“What a game,” said Ronaldo. “We had to suffer, but that’s what finals are about. It’s a trophy we really wanted to win and we end the year in the best way possible so I’m very happy.”

Ronaldo has now won the Club World Cup three times, having done so previously with Manchester United in 2008 and Real in 2014. He was already the only player to win the competition with two different clubs.

-BBC

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...
Post a Comment
Read more