Real Madrid survive late Dortmund scare to set up Club World Cup semi-final with PSG | Club World Cup 2025

Real Madrid set an appointment with Paris Saint-Germain in the club’s World Cup semi-finals, despite a chaotic last 10 minutes, giving Kylian Mbappé a chance to face his former team on a large scene after scoring a fantastic acrobatic goal in a 3-2 victory against Borussia Dortmund.
The Madrid of Xabi Alonso seemed entirely in control for the vast majority of the match, until a remarkable downtime renders nervous things and that the last backup of Thibaut Courtois retained the victory. This incredible conclusion to an otherwise pedestrian match also included a late red card given to the Real Madrid DEAN Huijsen, the impressive new arrival in central defense, which will miss the semi-final following the reduction of Serhou Guirassy just after the great volley of Mbappé for the third of Real Madrid.
Real Madrid dominated most of the match, with Gonzalo García opening the scoring for his impressive fourth goal of the tournament and the left back French (no relationship) adding the second – his first goal in 52 appearances this season.
But while the final stages can be the most memorable period of this game for one of the 76,611 which filled the Metlife Stadium at 93% of its listed capacity, it was the contributions of the Garcías and the general game of Real Madrid during the previous 90 minutes which represented most of the Spanish giants in the coming season.
When the former manager of Bayer Leverkusen took over the club for which he played after the last disappointing season of Carlo Ancelotti, the club World Cup started in just over two weeks. The start of a major autonomous tournament to come so shortly after a new Manager meeting is far from the standard, but Alonso’s intentions were clear.
“I see it as an opportunity for two reasons,” he said. “One, because it means that we can accelerate the processes, know us earlier, see things we want to be. Then, it’s a chance to fight for another trophy … If we can bring these two things together, then it can be a very good start. ”
It was indeed a very good start. On Saturday, as they did throughout the tournament so far, Real Madrid of Alonso has transparently joined young players who seemed ready to jump into the elite, their contributions helping to be real to a far of a chance to this trophy in the final of the Club World Cup.
The goals came from two players who represent the strong role that the development of young people can still play in a Madrid team in charge of stars. Both are academic products, and both have caused a danger throughout the match outside their goals.
The assists, on the other hand, seem to indicate that the planning of the succession of the Spanish giant for life after Luka Modric worked. Arda Guller, the 20 -year -old Turkey International, was again brilliant, providing assistance to the opening of Gonzalo García and generally a nuisance for a shy back line of Dortmund throughout the 90 minutes. Along the bottom line, Huijsen effectively controlled procedures just behind the brilliant Aurélien Tchouammeni in the defensive midfielder. The couple, with the partner of Huijsen in the central defense, Antonio Rüdiger, prevented Dortmund from threatening a lot, even at all – up to the red card of Huijsen and the madness that surrounded them.
These discreetly effective performances recall the best of what Alonso has been able to achieve in his time in charge of Bayer Leverkusen. But it’s still Real Madrid, and there are still big stars capable of improvising extraordinary things. Vinícius Júnior, as usual, turned out to be good for some of these moments, at some point, trying a daring chip of more than 30 meters which nevertheless went high and largely.
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Then, of course, he had Mbappé. The French superstar still finds its feet after having been in the hospital with gastroenteritis, a disease that would have cost it 5 kg of body weight and probably days of training and to synchronize with its new manager and teammates. With the additional lightness, Mbappé provided the moment of signature of the game in this memorable stop time, suspended in the air to meet a crossing with a kick of scissors laterally at close range which stole in front of the goalkeeper of Dortmund, Gregor Kobel, and in the back of the net, delighting the crowd of almost capacity.
Now, Mbappé hopes to be fully fit and we can imagine that he will break down the door of Alonso will start to start a semi-final in this same place on Wednesday, his first chance of facing the team with whom he became the winner of the World Cup and a world superstar.
During his introduction to his new accusations, Alonso undertook “to see the things we want to be” and “to win a trophy” as his objectives. “If we can bring these two things together, it can be a very good start,” he said.
This good start is only a victory for another major final for Los merengues.