A Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick fired Real Madrid to victory in the Club World Cup final in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, with the La Liga giants beating Brazilians Gremio 1-0.
The win gave Real their third Club World Cup title, a joint-record along with fellow Spaniards Barcelona, with two of those wins coming in the last two seasons.
Ronaldo’s goal came on 53 minutes, after he had been fouled by Jailson.
The 32-year-old dusted himself down before firing into the corner of the net, although the effort really shouldn’t have evaded the flimsy Gremio wall…
Still, the strike would ultimately win the final for the La Liga behemoths, who deserved the win after dominating long periods of the game against a defensively solid Gremio side.
The goal was Ronaldo’s fourth in three Club World Cup finals, as the great man continues to produce the goods on the big occasions.
After the game, the Portuguese goal-machine was in typically modest form, saying:
The numbers speak for themselves.
I am very happy, I remain very motivated to keep winning things at a collective and individual level.
I still feel strong enough to continue my trajectory as a player and to win trophies, which is what I like most.
The victory means that Real have now picked up five trophies in 2017, with this latest success adding to their Champions League, La Liga, Uefa Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup titles. Not bad really.
Although Zinedine Zidane will no doubt be hoping this latest win can kickstart his side’s disappointing La Liga campaign, with Los Merengues currently in fourth spot, eight points behind leaders Barcelona.