Real Madrid played Arabic team Al Ain in the Club World Cup finals today, and for the 4th time ever, they won, taking the lead over F.C. Barcelona foremost titles. They finished the game with a dominating 4-1, with goals from Sergio Ramos, Marcos Llorente, and Luka Modric. The 4th came from an own goal by Yahia Nader in the 91st minute. Meanwhile, Al Ain's only goal came from Tsukasa Shiotani in the 86 minute.
However, these recent happenings were predictable. Real Madrid, despite suffering in La Liga, was in a Club World Cup with a bunch of lesser known teams with Real Madrid being the far superior team, and that is still true with Zinedine Zidane or Cristiano Ronaldo.
The title marked Santiago Solari's first title with the club and is sure to be the first of many milestones he will go through with Real. The thing is, their accomplishments are being taken for granted, and so it is important for one to realize what Real Madrid has done, and also what they will be leaving behind when their mighty empire fades.
Real Madrid has won the Champions League the last three times: 2016, 2017, 2018. That in its self is an accomplishment. They have been able to surpass the best teams in Europes top 5 leagues 3 times in a row! However, a Champions League wins qualifies one for a Club World Cup position. The winners from that year's AFC Champions League (Asia), CAF Champions League (Africa), CONCACAF Champions League (North America), Copa Libertadores (South America), OFC Champions League (Oceania) and UEFA Champions League (Europe), along with the host nation's national champions all qualify to play.
Basically, the Club World Cup is a competition between continental champions, and in more ways than one, it decides the best club in the world. The problem is, the UEFA winners heavily outclass the others with 12 out of 15 Club World Cup winners being from the UEFA Champions League. Furthermore the last 6 Club World Cup winners have all been from the UCL.
This evidence just proves why the Champions League is considered to be more prestigious than the Club World Cup; a UCL win is usually a Club World Cup win. Nevertheless, Real Madrid has won both competitions 3 times in a row. This is an unparalleled achievement. Even rivals Barcelona have only 5 wins in the Champions League, and 3 wins in the Club World Cup. However, none of these competitions have they won consecutively. In fact, no team besides Madrid has won a Club World Cup in consecutive years.
All this goes to show Real Madrid's accomplishments, but all empires fall. The Roman Empire was defeated, Brazil was defeated after its string of World Cup successes with Pelé and it seems as last that Madrid is falling. Or are they picking themselves up? They went from 6th in La Liga under Lopetegui to 4th under Solari. Although it seems minor, this is an important and significant step. Furthermore, they navigated themselves to the UCL Round of 16, and all this was completed at the top of their group. Although another Champions League seems unlikely, it is still a major possibility, and the fate of the Real Madrid Dynasty will be determined in the New Year.
コメント