Real Madrid have won the Club World Cup for a record-extending fifth time after thrashing Al-Hilal 5-3 in Morocco - and prevented the Saudi-Arabian outfit from banking a bumper six-figure bonus payout in the process.
Carlo Ancelotti's side, the reigning European champions, raced into a two goal lead courtesy of strikes from Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde before Moussa Marega fired Al-Hilal back into the contest.
Karim Benzema restored Los Blancos' two-goal cushion before Valverde bagged his second goal of the evening on the hour mark. Luciano Vietto struck back for Al-Hilal, but Vinicius Junior killed off any hopes of a comeback with his second strike of the evening to seal the win for the LaLiga giants. Vietto did net again to set up a nervy finish, but Real stood firm.
Real had already won the competition four times prior to their latest triumph on Saturday evening, which marked their first win since 2018. They have also won the tournament three times before it's current inception.
They headed into the match against the reigning Saudi Pro League champions as heavy favourites, but Ancelotti's side have toiled recently after winning just two of their last seven matches prior to their triumph against Egyptian outfit Al Ahly in the tournament semi-finals.
Real Madrid's triumph means that Al-Hilal's squad will miss out on a bumper prize pot of £222,000 per player which was offered up by Saudi Arabian billionaire Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud.
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The Al-Hilal team already pocketed a £222,000 sum after stunning Brazilian outfit Flamengo to reach the final. Al Saud, the founder of Kingdom Holding Company, had been willing to reward each individual player with another bumper bonus if they were able to claim the scalp of Real Madrid.
Despite their loss in the final, Al-Hilal have defied expectations to reach the finale of the tournament against one of the most decorated teams in Europe.
Prior to stunning Flamengo, Ramon Diaz' side had defeated Wydad Casablanca in the second round after they were nominated to take part in the tournament by the Asian Football Confederation.
Real Madrid's triumph means Ancelotti has now won five trophies since he returned to the Spanish giants for a second spell back in 2021. There had been speculation that the Italian was set to be appointed as the new manager of the Brazil national team earlier this week. However, Ancelotti scotched that talk on the eve of Saturday's final.
Speaking after the match, Ancelotti hailed his side's latest triumph - and the contributions of Vinicius Junior and Valverde after their braces.
The Los Blancos chief said: "We are very happy. For the eighth time Real Madrid is world champion, it was what we had to do. We did well in attack... Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema, Federico Valverde, we had quality and mobility."
