Intercontinental Cup, Real Madrid-Pachuca 3-0: no one like Ancelotti

An obvious and triumphal final for Madrid, a moment of national pride for us Italians thanks to the eternal and magnificent Carlo Ancelotti. At the Lusail in Doha, Qatar, Real beat Mexican Pachuca 3-0 with goals from its trident, Mbappé, Rodrygo and Vinicius on penalties, to lift the dusted off Intercontinental Cup, fifth title of 2024, second of the season, for Los Blancos who they continue the race for the ‘septete’ given that in this 24-25 they are involved in 7 competitions.

HISTORIC CARLO

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It is Madrid’s ninth Club World Cup in its various forms, but above all it is the fifteenth trophy won by Carlo Ancelotti as coach at Casa Blanca, more than any other in the glorious history of the Madrid club. Miguel Muñoz has reached 14 in 605 matches, Ancelotti has 15 in 316, a trophy every 21 matches. And on a personal level as a coach Carlo is at 30, even if he says 31 because the 1999 Intertoto with Juventus also counts, which they won on three. This Intercontinental for Carlo comes 35 years after his first win as a player with Milan against the Colombians Nacional.

KYLIAN IS THERE

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The difference between the two teams is too great, with Pachuca finishing the Mexican Apertura in third-to-last position and having just 4 victories and 13 defeats this season in 23 outings. As expected Kylian Mbappé has recovered and plays from the start between Vinicius and Rodrygo. Behind them Bellingham and behind them Valverde with Camavinga. Tchouameni in defense with Rudiger in a defense without Carvajal, Militao, Alaba and Mendy.

SUPERIORITY

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Pachuca started better by engaging Courtois a couple of times with Madrid not very interested, listless, evidently aware of their superiority. Ratified in the 37th minute with the Blancos’ first shot on target: magnificent action started with a triangle between Valverde and Camavinga, ball to Bellingham, perfect cut for Vinicius who left Mbappé in front of the empty net for the opening goal. The same goal where exactly two years ago the Frenchman scored 3 goals in the World Cup final lost against Argentina. For Mbappé it is 13 goals of the season.

THE DOUBLE

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At the start of the second half (53′) Rodrygo doubled the lead with a nice shot at the end of an action by Valverde and Mbappé. The referee went to the monitor to see a possible interference from Bellingham, who was offside, but then explained live with his microphone to the whole stadium that everything was fine for him. Ancelotti quickly sent Mbappé and Camavinga out after returning from injury. At the end the referee returned to the TV to award a penalty to Madrid for a foul by Idriss on Lucas Vazquez with the penalty converted by Vinicius (84′) the last flare-up of a match without history on a sporting level but historic for Ancelotti.