Vinicius Junior scored one goal and made another with a touch of class as Real Madrid sealed their place in the last 16 of the Club World Cup with a 3-0 win over Salzburg on Thursday.
The Brazil star opened the scoring after a superb defence-splitting pass by Jude Bellingham on 40 minutes and then set up Federico Valverde for the all-important second goal in first-half stoppage time.
Gonzalo Garcia wrapped up the win late on with his second goal of the tournament, and the result means Xabi Alonso’s team end the first round of FIFA’s new tournament unbeaten.
They go through to the knockout stage as Group H winners on seven points, setting up a last-16 tie against Juventus in Miami on Tuesday.
“Vini had a great game. It’s not just his goal and his assist that will stay with me, but also the sacrifices he made for the team and the work he did defensively,” said Alonso after Vinicius scored a first club goal in nine appearances since mid-April.
Salzburg go out as Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia progress in second place behind Real after defeating already eliminated Pachuca of Mexico 2-0 in Nashville.
They play Manchester City in the last 16.
Madrid are adjusting in the United States to life under new coach Alonso and were again without top scorer Kylian Mbappe, with the Frenchman thus far not having played at the Club World Cup as he recovers from illness.
“We were really stable and really mature in the first half. We controlled the game well and didn’t rush things,” Alonso added.
“There is still a lot to improve, but we are moving in the right direction.”
There was still plenty of star appeal even without Mbappe for the 64,811 fans who filled Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia almost to capacity — they reserved their loudest cheers for Bellingham and spirits were not dampened by wet, fresh conditions as the blistering heatwave of recent days suddenly lifted.
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Alonso opts for back three
Alonso opted, as during his time in charge of Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, for a back three with Aurelien Tchouameni in between Antonio Rudiger and Dean Huijsen. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fran Garcia played as wing-backs.
Real won 5-1 when the teams met in the Champions League in January with Vinicius scoring twice, and the Brazilian was again heavily involved in putting the Austrian team to the sword here.
He was denied by goalkeeper Christian Zawieschitzky when clean through on 20 minutes, but made up for that by getting the breakthrough as the interval approached.
The goal owed much to a fantastic pass by Bellingham which found Vinicius in between the two Salzburg centre-backs. He held off two chasing defenders and scored with an early left-foot shot low into the corner.
It was a 22nd goal of the season in all competitions and one that delighted those backing Real in the crowd.
Petar Ratkov had a chance for Salzburg after Arda Guler was dispossessed just outside his own area, but Real scored again to make it 2-0 almost on the half-time whistle.
When a rather aimless pass forward by Guler was deflected by Salzburg’s Mamady Diambou, Vinicius pounced on the loose ball and continued into the area before producing a clever back-heel to set up Valverde for the goal.
Salzburg now needed a favour from Al Hilal to stay in the competition although they did continue to make a fight of it and had chances to reduce the deficit in the second half.
Nevertheless they were picked off on the counter as Madrid got their third with six minutes of the 90 remaining.
A ball forward by Alexander-Arnold should have been cut out by Joane Gadou but the young defender’s touch was intercepted by Gonzalo Garcia and the young forward ran through before clipping a shot beyond the goalkeeper.
