It took a second half successful battle, but Real Madrid eventually emerged victorious with a 2-1 win over Al Jazira in the semifinal of the Club World Cup.
They went behind to an early goal from Romarinho, with the wasteful Cristiano Ronaldo cutting a frustrated figure for the majority of the opening stages.
To be fair, the tireless chants of “Messi, Messi, Messi!” emanating from the home fans in Abu Dhabi probably didn’t help either.
Ronaldo though eventually found his feet and smashed home an equaliser less than 10 minutes after the restart.
The Portuguese latched on to an inch-perfect throughball from Luka Modric to slam an angled finish past Al Jazira keeper Ali Khaseif with a flash of his golden boots.
As for the match itself, Gareth Bale eventually secured Real’s place in the final — the Welshman scoring the winner mere seconds after emerging from the bench in the 81st minute.
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