Really Lacking here: Xabi Alonso

Midfielder Federico Valverde missed a stoppage-time penalty as Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup on Wednesday. 

Al-Hilal started off in effervescent fashion and had an early goal by Salem Aldawsari ruled out for offside. 

Garcia draws first blood

Madrid gradually gained more control over the game and opened the scoring in the 34th minute with striker Gonzalo Garcia — starting in place of the ill Kylian Mbappe — finishing off a low-ball sent into the box by Rodrygo.

Madrid boss Xabi Alonso

However, Al Hilal didn’t allow their spirit to be dampened and scored the equaliser in the 49th minute. Madrid centre-back Raul Asencio was ruled to have pulled down Marcos Leonardo and Portugal international Ruben Neves calmly tucked away the ensuing penalty.

Madrid continued to pepper the opposition goal and the Saudi side’s custodian Yassine Bounou had to make a string of impressive saves to keep his team in the game.

Al Hilal’s resistance was nearly scuppered in the 87th minute as Fran Garcia won a foul in the Saudi team’s box. However, Bounou came up trumps once again to deny the Valverde, making sure Xabi Alonso’s debut as Madrid coach was one to forget.

The Madrid boss lamented their poor opening 45-minutes, admitting: “In the first half, we were lacking in a lot of areas, with and without the ball. I think we lost the ball too quickly, we didn’t have much balance, and these are things we had talked about and it took us a little longer to get right.”

Man City, Juventus win

In Philadelphia, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku scored first-half goals as Manchester City beat Wydad Casablanca of Morocco 2-0 in Group G. Elsewhere, in another Group G encounter,  Juventus made short work of UAE’s Al Ain. Randal Kolo Muani, and Francisco Conceicao scored a brace each as they beat their opponents 5-0.

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