ADVERTISEMENT
Ronaldo hat-trick hands Real Club World Cup
Reuters
Last Updated IST
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with the Golden Ball trophy. Reuters Photo
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with the Golden Ball trophy. Reuters Photo

Real Madrid suffered an almighty fright before a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick hauled them back from 2-1 down and gave them a 4-2 win over rank outsiders Kashima Antlers in the Club World Cup final on Sunday.

Two goals from Gaku Shibasaki stunned the European champions as the Japanese hosts took a 2-1 lead early in the second half before a Ronaldo penalty brought Real level on the hour. The 11-times European champions then survived several more scares and a possible sending-off for captain Sergio Ramos before Ronaldo scored twice more in the first period of extra-time.

Real, who won the tournament for the second time in three years, appeared set for an easy victory when Karim Benzema gave them a ninth-minute lead but Shibasaki changed the story by levelling one minute before halftime.

Real went ahead when Luka Modric's volley was parried by Hitoshi Sogahata and Benzema tapped in the rebound.

Kashima refused to be overawed and snatched a shock equaliser just before the break.

Shoma Doi's cross found Shibasaki, whose first touch was poor but he was gifted a second attempt when Raphael Varane failed to clear and he smashed the ball into the net.

Shibasaki struck again six minutes after the break when he collected a poor Real clearance, got away from three opponents and fired a low shot past Keylor Navas from 25 metres.

Real were facing their first defeat since they lost to VfL Wolfsburg in April, a run of 36 competitive games, until Lucas Vazquez was bundled over by Shuto Yamamoto and Ronaldo converted the resulting penalty on the hour. Kashima continued to give as good as they got and had three good chances in the final minutes of normal time.

However, Ronaldo ended Kashima's dream when he collected Benzema's sliderule pass and fired past Sogahata eight minutes into extra-time, then settled the match six minutes later with an emphatic finish into the roof of the net.
 

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 19 December 2016, 00:04 IST)