Chapter 618: Corinthians
The final between the European and South American champions is what most media and fans around the world want to see.
After all, the champions of the two continents representing the highest level of football will meet in the final, and the final will be interesting.
Although the Club World Cup champions in the past five years have all been European teams, and Real Madrid is much stronger than Corinthians on paper, Corinthians are Brazilian giants after all, not fish belly.
It's always much stronger and more interesting than teams like Al Ahly and Monterrey.
After the two teams in the final matchup were selected, the world's enthusiasm for the Club World Cup final suddenly increased.
In addition to the title of world champion, keywords and names such as Real Madrid, Lu Wenbin, Ronaldo, and six-time champion are also important reasons for attracting the attention of media and fans around the world.
Media outlets around the world have reported on the semi-finals and previewed the finals to remind fans to tune in on time.
"In the second semi-final of the just-concluded Club World Cup, Champions League champion Real Madrid swept the PERCACAF champion Monterrey 5-1 to advance to the final, where they will compete with Copa Libertadores champion Corinthians for this year's Club World Cup."
"In 2012, Real Madrid won all the trophies they could have won, including the Champions League, the Copa del Rey, La Liga, the Spanish Super Cup and the UEFA Super Cup."
"If they win the Club World Cup again, Real Madrid will complete the unprecedented annual six crowns in world football."
"Six crowns, in an era when the triple crown is enough for the whole world to look up to, the six crowns are simply daunting!"
"If Real Madrid really beat Corinthians to win the six crowns, then I can declare that this Real Madrid is the strongest Real Madrid in history, and the nickname of the Galaxy Battleship is even more worthy of the name!"
"In the semi-finals, Lu Wenbin has scored a hat trick, I wonder what Lu Wenbin will perform in the final?"
"Can Corinthians end a European team's five-game FIFA Club World Cup winning streak? It's all in the finals on December 16th, so stay tuned in time for the live broadcast on this station! ”
In the midst of increasing attention, on the afternoon of December 16, Al Ahly and Monterrey played a third- and fourth-place final.
After 90 minutes of battle, Monterrey beat Al Ahly 2-0 to secure third place in the 2012 Club World Cup, with Al Ahly finishing fourth.
Then, in the evening, it was the turn of Real Madrid and Corinthians to compete for the title.
At 20:00 local time on the evening of December 16, with the referee's whistle, the 2012 World Club Cup final between Real Madrid and Corinthians officially kicked off at the Yokohama National Stadium in Japan.
Real Madrid are still in their 4231 formation, while Corinthians play in a 442 midfield parallel position.
Once the game began, Corinthians took advantage of the kick-off to take the lead against Real Madrid.
Although South American football is at a good level, the attention cannot be compared with that of European football, which is regarded as the center of world football, where capital is concentrated.
The Club World Cup is actually a very rare opportunity for South American players.
Especially now that the opponent is Real Madrid, the opponent team has superstars such as Lu Wenbin and Ronaldo, as well as the gimmick of Real Madrid's six-time champion, etc., which has attracted the media and fans quite highly, and the attention is almost the highest in the previous Club World Cup finals.
It is said that the final of the Club World Cup was broadcast on television in more than 100 countries around the world.
If they perform well in the Club World Cup final, even if they can't win, they will surely attract the attention of the big European clubs, and they may get the opportunity to move to Europe to make a lot of money.
As a result, Corinthians' frontcourt players are playing very aggressively and want to put in a performance and score goals.
Of course, the backfield was not to be outdone, defending fiercely and decisively, hoping to stop all of Real Madrid's counterattacks.
However, there are pros and cons to the ferocity of the defense, which can sometimes frighten the opponent, such as Di Maria who was almost injured after being tackled by the opponent once, and then flinched and scared.
But Lu Wenbin, who knew that he had zero tendency to be injured, couldn't be frightened.
Not only did he not retreat, but he took the initiative to entangle with the opponent, intending to force the opponent to foul and give himself a free kick opportunity.
In the 20th minute, the opportunity came.
Lu Wenbin began to break through after receiving a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo on the wing near the center circle, and after passing a midfielder, he was tackled by the opposing defender Xi Kanglian about 25 meters from the goal at the edge of the big forbidden area.
Xikang didn't close his feet when he tackled, in fact, he wanted to shovel Lu Wenbin off the field.
As a result, Lu Wenbin was not only not injured, but stepped on him when he fell, and it was useless for him to complain to the referee, the referee thought that he shoveled down Lu Wenbin, and Lu Wenbin stepped on him because he was unstable.
Chimon was shown a yellow card and awarded a free-kick in front of Real Madrid.
Lu Wenbin was fouled and got a free kick before, but he didn't score that time, which is one of the reasons why Xikang continued to foul with luck.
As a result, although there was no systematic skill this time, Lu Wenbin still kicked the ball directly into Corinthians' goal with his free throw level.
Real Madrid fans and Lu Wenbin fans at the scene and in front of the TV broke out into warm applause and cheers.
And Xikang, who broke the rules, was depressed to death.
Now, not only did he carry a yellow card, but also allowed Lu Wenbin to score, a foul that was really a loss.
Next, Xikang, who was yellow carded, became a little more cautious. Other players were also afraid of Lu Wenbin's free kick skills and did not dare to foul easily.
Real Madrid's attack was much smoother.
In the 36th minute, Real Madrid scored again.
This time, it was Xavi Alonso who crossed Lu Wenbin and sent a long ball in the air to find Benzema, who stopped the ball on his chest and knocked it to Cristiano Ronaldo, who shot from distance near the corner of the forbidden area and scored in the far corner.
Real Madrid have a 2-0 lead over Corinthians.
For the next ten minutes, the Corinthians who wanted to make a name for themselves attacked aggressively and wanted to equalize.
However, Real Madrid's backline is not paper-mâché, and Corinthians' players are also a little worse and unlucky, and in the end they did not score a goal, and the first half of the game was ushered in.
After a 15-minute break, the second half of the game officially began.
Corinthians continued their first-half attack and finally pulled a point back in the 58th minute through their midfielder Paulinho assisting striker Guerreiro.
Just when a very small number of Corinthians fans were still happily cheering for the team, hoping that they would continue to work hard and overtake the score, in the 62nd minute, Real Madrid expanded the score again.
Di Maria's cross from the wing was met by Lu Wenbin's volley in the no-no-go zone.
Real Madrid 3-1 Corinthians.