Real Madrid have won the 2024 Intercontinental Cup after beating Pachuca 3-0 in Wednesday’s final.
Goals from Kylian Mbappé, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior secured the victory for Carlo Ancelotti’s team against the Liga MX club at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
Madrid qualified for the Intercontinental Cup — FIFA’s new annual mid-season competition, replacing the previous iteration of the Club World Cup — after winning the Champions League, while opponents Pachuca won the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
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Madrid opened the scoring in Doha in the 37th minute, Vinicius Jr surrounded goalkeeper Carlos Moreno and launched Mbappé, who into an empty goal.
Rodrygo doubled Madrid’s merit seven minutes into the second half by running the ball for a shot from the edge of the box and curling the ball past Moreno. The goal was subject to a VAR review on the field, but an offside by Jude Bellingham was deemed not to interfere with play in the build-up.
Madrid were awarded a penalty nine minutes from time after Oussama Idrissi fouled Lucas Vázquez in the box following a VAR review. Vinicius Jr, recently crowned FIFA’s most productive men’s player the year he sent in the next shot, Moreno contributed to his effort.
Pachuca were denied a late consolation goal after Angel Mena’s header was ruled out for offside as Madrid secured a comfortable victory.
Madrid have won the last edition of the Club World Cup five times, the last one in 2022, and have been the most successful club in the competition.
“There are many (titles). I’m delighted, happy. . . it’s a story of good fortune,” Ancelotti told Spanish television channel Telecinco.
“Today I liked the attitude of the players. Up front they made the difference, Vinicius Jr played a great game. Offensively we did well.
“We have a lot of quality. Kylian had a game, Rodrygo scored the second. We are very satisfied because we won a name away from home and in the middle of the season.
Analysis by The Athletic correspondent at Real Madrid, Mario Cortegana
Although most people said it was a game in which Real Madrid had much to lose and little to gain, Los Blancos come away from Qatar with very good news.
This name closes an unforgettable 2024 in style, with six trophies won: the Spanish Super Cup in January, La Liga in May, the Champions League in June, the European Super Cup in August and the Intercontinental Cup in December.
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The triumph also silences the noise (admittedly more external than internal) about the future of Carlo Ancelotti, who overtook Miguel Munoz to become the coach with the most titles (15) in the club’s history.
In addition, and although the FIFA Best winner remains Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe was also on the scoresheet, just two years after scoring a hat-trick in the very same Lusail Stadium in the final of the 2022 World Cup. There were also no injuries to report, which is news in itself for Madrid this season.
(Mahud Hams/AFP Getty Images)