Real Madrid reach Club World Cup semi-finals

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Real Madrid 3 - 2 Borussia Dortmund 

Real Madrid held their nerve through a frantic period of stoppage time to see off Borussia Dortmund and book their place in the Club World Cup semi-finals.

Author | Josh D

Stadium | MetLife Stadium

Club World Cup | Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund

The Spanish giants looked to be cruising towards victory with a 2-0 lead as the match entered added time.

Gonzalo Garcia opened the scoring with a crisp volley inside 10 minutes, his fourth goal in five games, before Fran Garcia doubled the advantage by turning in a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

But the contest burst into life in injury time. Substitute Maximilian Beier pulled one back for Dortmund to set up a tense finale.

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Kylian Mbappe responded almost immediately with an acrobatic volley to restore Real’s two-goal cushion. However, there was still time for more drama as Dean Huijsen was shown a red card for pulling down Serhou Guirassy, who converted the resulting penalty.

Despite the late scare, Real Madrid held on and will face Paris St-Germain in Wednesday’s semi-final. Gonzalo Garcia heads into that match level at the top of the golden boot standings alongside Angel Di Maria and Marcos Leonardo, both of whom have already been knocked out.

A good experience for Dortmund?

In this match, Dortmund were largely outclassed. However, Julian Brandt was a threat both in terms of almost scoring himself and in creating chances for others. 

Ultimately though, this was a good experience for the players. The players and coaching staff will he hoping to utilise this ahead of the upcoming Bundesliga and Champions League campaigns. 

One fan told us: "Overall, the players probably achieved more than even they expected. A quarter-final against Real Madrid was always going to be difficult and it's not a problem to lose against them. They are a world-class team."

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