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In the Intercontinental Cup final in Doha on Wednesday, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe both scored as Real Madrid won by 3-0 over Mexican side Pachuca.

Mbappe opened the scoring in the 37th minute before Rodrygo doubled Madrid’s lead early in the second half. With a late penalty, Vicius sealed a comfortable victory for the Spanish and European champions.

After missing Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Rayo Vallecano due to a hamstring injury suffered in the Champions League victory over Atalanta last week, France striker Mbappe returned to the Madrid lineup in Doha.

✨ @ViniJr ✨#WorldCham9ions pic. twitter.com/VZ4TWGbF4h

After Vinicius Junior, who had previously won the FIFA Best men’s player of the year award after missing out on the Ballon d’Or, brilliant play, Mbappe swung in from close range to break the deadlock.

Vinicius, Bonmati Win FIFA Best Players Of The Yearhttps: //t. co/tzOHq1vNzf pic. twitter.com/U6lfzrg78h

Salomon Rondon, the former West Brom and Newcastle forward, led Pachuca’s attack, but they never really looked capable of causing a stir, and Rodrygo’s fine curling strike from the edge of the area put Madrid in complete control.

TEAM #WorldCham9ions pic. twitter.com/4eB7u5zIDZ

Even though Jude Bellingham was playing an offside position and appeared to be stumbling over the goalkeeper’s line of vision, it was allowed to stand after the referee called the pitchside monitor.

Six minutes after Lucas Vazquez was chopped down in the Pachuca box, Vinicius added a third from the penalty spot six minutes later.

“We all understood how difficult it can be after a lengthy trip and just one game,” said the team. We struggled at the beginning, but we adapted well”, Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde told Spanish television channel Telecinco.

READ ALSO: Maresca Insists Chelsea “Trust” Mudryk Despite Failed Drugs Test

‘ Anxious ‘ Ancelotti makes more history&nbsp,

@MrAncelotti: “It has been a fantastic year”.#WorldCham9ions pic. twitter.com/6P0JyaoPnJ

Following their UEFA Super Cup victory over Atalanta in August, Madrid won their second title of the season, which coach Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged had been a challenging period.

“In this part of the season I was a bit anxious because I didn’t like the team, honestly, but this will change in 2025 I’m sure”, said Ancelotti.

“It’s important for us to get to Christmas alive. I believe the team has improved significantly since the Champions League defeat suffered on November 5 by Milan, which gives us hope for the year 2025.

Ancelotti won his 15th trophy as Madrid coach, moving him past Miguel Munoz for the most in the club’s history.

“It’s a nice moment. It’s an honour for me. Madrid are the club that everybody wants to coach because they’re the best club in the world”, said Ancelotti.

Because you have a great team and a loyal fan base, winning them elsewhere is simpler.

The six continental champions from the previous edition of the FIFA-backed Intercontinental Cup, which largely follows the previous format of the Club World Cup, were present in this first edition.

In 2025, the latter will now be played once every four years and will include 32 teams. The champions of Europe and South America competed in a previous Intercontinental Cup competition that ran from 1960 to 2004.

Madrid won the competition three more times before taking home the Club World Cup five times in a row.

A team from Al Hilal, including Neymar, and Red Bull Salzburg, are due to play Pachuca once more at the upcoming Club World Cup in the United States.

In their final game of the year, Madrid take on Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday. In Saudi Arabia, they will play in the four-team Spanish Super Cup that will take place in the middle of January.

German Thomas Letsch has been hired as Red Bull Salzburg’s new head coach, the club announced on Wednesday, two days after Pep Lijnders was fired for “unsatisfactory performances.”

Letsch, 56, has signed a contract running until&nbsp, June 30, 2027, the Austrian club said in a statement.

“It is important that we develop together as a team”, Letsch, who was fired by German Bundesliga side Bochum in April, said.

Prior to joining Salzburg’s UEFA Youth League team, Letsch oversaw the Red Bull Football Academy’s U16 and U18 teams.

Lijnders, a former Liverpool assistant under Jurgen Klopp, was fired with the team currently lounging in fifth place in the Austrian Bundesliga, 10 points behind Sturm Graz.

After losing five and winning just one of their six matches thus far, RB Salzburg is also ranked 32nd in the newly revamped Champions League phase.

In July, Lijnders, a Dutchman, took over Salzburg’s reins.

Joining Letsch as assistant coach is German&nbsp, Kai Hesse, 39. He replaces Vitor Matos, who was also let go.

Since Red Bull took over Salzburg in 2005, Salzburg has won more than a dozen titles.

In light of the recent threat of a disbanding European Super League, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has demanded that the Football Governance Bill be passed into English law as soon as possible.

A22, the organization behind the promotion of the new competition known as the Unify League, reportedly reached out to UEFA and FIFA, the governing bodies of international and domestic football, to request official recognition.

According to A22’s proposal, there are four leagues with a total of 96 participants.

A previous Super League scheme launched by 12 European clubs, including six of the Premier League’s biggest teams, provoked a furious response from fans and the sport’s authorities in 2021, leading to its quick collapse.

READ ALSO:  West Ham Manager Lopetegui Returns To Spain For Father’s Funeral

And 62-year-old Starmer, a devoted Arsenal fan, wants to stop any potential breakaway Premier League involvement by ensuring the football governance bill’s immediate introduction.

The top five divisions of the English men’s game will be regulated by the bill, creating an independent football regulator.

“You heard him previously say that on his watch, there will be no Super League-style breakaway from English football,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Wednesday.

The regulator will be able to prevent English clubs from joining upcoming breakaway competitions by taking into account factors like sustainability, heritage, and fairness as part of the strengthened Football Governance Bill.

We “absolutely want the Bill to pass in Parliament as soon as possible, so that the regulator can prevent these kinds of breakaway competitions” and also bring about the other significant changes the Bill promises to the English football pyramid. ”

Enzo Maresca, the head of Chelsea, claims Mykhailo Mudryk did not knowingly consume a prohibited supplement.

The Football Association informed the Blues on Tuesday that an “adverse finding” had been found in a urine sample provided by the 23-year-old Ukrainian winger.

Mudryk insisted he had not intentionally taken a banned substance and that the results of his “A” sample had come as a “complete shock” in an Instagram post.

“We trust Misha”, said Maresca on Wednesday.

“You need to support your player in every way when this kind of thing occurs.”

” Misha is a Chelsea player, it’s my duty to be in contact with him. Me, the club, his team-mates, we are all there.

“Trust means we believe Misha”.

On the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) website, athletes are informed that if a suspected illegal substance is taken on purpose, they could be subject to a four-year ban.

Ineligibility may range from two years to a reprimand, depending on the level of the offense, if the athlete can demonstrate they did not have any significant fault.

Mudryk made his 15 league starts for Chelsea this season, last scoring against Heidenheim with a 2-0 victory on November 28 in the Conference League.

He has not featured in the past five matches in all competitions.

“I think he’s going to come back, the only thing is we don’t know when”, said Maresca.

He added: “Any player in the world when this happens, they need support. No matter if he’s 20 or 30, no matter if he’s English or Italian or Ukrainian. When this kind of things happens, we all need support. It’s not about his age or his country.

It’s exactly the same with Misha. I’m there to try to help him in anything he needs because in this moment it’s normal that he’s going need help from the club, from me, from his team-mates, and we are all there to try to support. “

Mudryk joined Chelsea for a reported £88.5 million ($112 million) from Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023.

Before their Thursday game against Irish side Shamrock Rovers, Maresca’s side are second in the Premier League and top the European Conference League standings.

Premier League side West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui has confirmed that he has traveled to Spain to attend his father’s funeral.

Jose Lopetegui, a champion weightlifter who competed in the Basque sport of stone-lifting, died aged 94 on Tuesday.

However, Julen Lopetegui might return just in time to take charge of Brighton’s Premier League game on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Lopetegui’s coaching staff — Pablo Sanz and Edu Rubio — will take training.

A club spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui has traveled to Spain to pay his respects to his late father, Jose, who tragically passed away on Tuesday at the age of 94.

Everyone at the club is in the thoughts and sends his family and friends their sincere condolences, and we ask that you respect them at this time.

After Marcus Rashford suggested he could leave Old Trafford for a “new challenge,” Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said he wants to keep him in his squad.

Amorim dropped the 27-year-old after his team lost to Manchester City on Sunday, and he responded by saying he would think about leaving.

Since making his United debut in 2016, Rashford has scored 138 goals in 426 appearances for the club. He has advanced through United’s youth ranks.

However, he has lost form over the last 18 months with United and was also axed from England’s Euro 2024 squad.

Rashford’s interview on social media on Tuesday, in which he refused to rule out leaving United, followed Amorim’s first decision of his reign.

Amorim, who arrived from Sporting Lisbon in November, was quizzed on Rashford’s comments when he faced the media on Wednesday ahead of United’s League Cup quarter-final at Tottenham on Thursday.

“No (I’ve not spoken to him)”, Amorim said. “Not yet. It was yesterday (when) I gave the day off to the lads, so he’s our player and he’s ready for the next game”.

Asked if he would be happy to retain Rashford, Amorim replied: “Of course, because this kind of club needs big talents and he’s a big talent.

I’m focused on what he simply needs to do to perform at the highest level. I just want to help Marcus. “

Amorim added that Old Trafford, where United was once the dominant force in English football but is now only a lowly 13th in the Premier League, could present a “new challenge” that “Rashford spoke of.”

” We have here a new challenge, it’s a tough one, “he said.

We are in a difficult situation, and I’ve already said that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world, so that’s where I find the biggest challenge in football.

“So this is the biggest challenge of all,” he says. I’m hoping that everyone in my group is prepared for this new challenge.

&nbsp, ‘Always noise about Man Utd ‘

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou refrained from participating in the discussion about Rashford’s future after going through rumors about his own position in a troubled campaign.

“There’s always noise about Manchester United, come on mate. Where have you been”? Postecoglou said on Wednesday.

“No interest. Don’t care. Not interested. He is a Manchester United player. I manage my players, and other managers will manage their own players, but they have many of them.

” In terms of Marcus ‘ situation, I have no real desire to examine it any further. “

If United are willing to sell, Rashford might move to Tottenham in January.

However, the Australian continued, “If I looked at everyone we were linked to, I would have no time to be completely honest.” That stage of the process requires additional people to do it.

“We’ve been fairly disciplined in what we’re trying to build here and will continue to be that,” said the company.

Pressed again on whether Rashford was a potential target, Postecoglou added: “That’s not on my radar. I’ll respond, “You can ask me about Marcus, but you can also ask me about every single Premier League footballer.”