Real Madrid Beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 To Enter Club World Cup Semifinals
Alonso's team reached the semi-finals despite Mbappe not having started a game in the tournament. The French superstar, who missed the group stage due to illness, will now aim to start for the first time against his former club in an intriguing last-four clash at the same venue on Wednesday.
'It will be a great challenge for us to face PSG but let's take positives from today and move on for the next one," Alonso added.
The winner of that match will likely be the favourite to win the inaugural edition of FIFA's expanded competition, with Chelsea facing Fluminense in the other semi-final.
This game, attended by 76,611 spectators, was a repeat of the 2024 UEFA Champions League final which Real won 2-0. Unlike that occasion, where they needed two late goals, this time they seemed to secure victory early after Alonso surprisingly switched from a three-man central defence to a back four.
Julian Brandt nearly gave the German side the lead, but it was Real who went ahead in the 10th minute. Garcia, who had scored three times in Madrid's first four matches at the Club World Cup, including the winner against Juventus in the last 16, slipped between two defenders to meet an Arda Guler cross at the near post, delighting the vast majority of the crowd.
The summer heat slowed the pace of the contest, but Real effectively dashed Dortmund's hopes by scoring again in the 20th minute. Patient build-up play on the right, involving the commanding Jude Bellingham and Gonzalo, led to a low Trent Alexander-Arnold cutback being swept in by Fran Garcia.
They should have added more goals before halftime, with Bellingham—missing the chance to face his suspended brother Jobe—shooting just wide after a clever dummy by Vinicius Junior. The latter missed a shot trying to surprise Gregor Kobel from the edge of the box, while Aurelien Tchouameni hit the woodwork just past the hour mark, although there was an earlier offside in the move.
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Dortmund could have mounted a serious comeback had half-time substitute Beier scored at the other end just before that, though their hopes were briefly revived late on. Beier made it 2-1 three minutes into added time, controlling a poor clearance and firing past Thibaut Courtois.
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