RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Vinícius Júnior scored twice and assisted Karim Benzema to lead Real Madrid to its record-extending eighth Club World Cup title by beating Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal 5-3 in the final on Saturday.
Federico Valverde added two more goals for the European champions in a final that turned into a shootout. Al-Hilal never led but showed it was no fluke that it upset Brazil's Flamengo to reach the decider in Morocco's capital.
Vinícius has been the target of racist slurs in the Spanish league — and even had his effigy hung from a bridge but has not let that negatively impact his performances.
The Brazil forward, who scored the only goal when Madrid beat Liverpool in last season’s Champions League final, leads Madrid with 16 across all competitions.
Vinícius opened the scoring in the 13th minute and curled home Madrid's fifth and final goal in the 69th.
Luciano Vietto scored twice and Moussa Marega once for the Asian champions, who fell behind early and never got closer than 2-1 by halftime.
Madrid also won the Club World Cup following triumphs in the Champions League in 2014 and from 2016-18. It won other versions of the world title in 1960, 1998 and 2002.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
