Vinicius Junior made on Thursday (26) his best match at the Club World Cup, with a goal and assistance, fundamental for Real Madrid to defeat RB Salzburg 3-0 at Lincoln Financial Field. The result sealed the Spanish team’s classification to the round of 16.
The Brazilian star had not swivered the net for his team since April 16, when he scored against Arsenal in confrontation for the quarterfinals of the Champions League. After that, it was eight games without leaving your mark on the scoreboard. Against the Austrian team, he paved the way for the Madrid victory 40 minutes into the first half and, in addition, served Valverde, which expanded.
After the break, Gonzalo García closed the account, 39 minutes, after pulling a counterattack.
The Madrid team has advanced as the leader of the seven points group H and will face Juventus in the knockout-the confrontation will be on Tuesday (1), at 16h (Brasília). The second seat of the key was with Al Hilal, from Saudi Arabia, who beat Pachuca, 2-0, also on Thursday. The Saudi team totaled five points and will face Manchester City, on Monday (30), at 22h (Brasília).
With the definitions of Group H, the Club World Cup will have nine European knockout teams. Only three teams from the continent did not advance: Porto, Atletico Madrid and RB Salzburg.
South America will have the second largest presence in the round of 16, with four representatives, all from Brazil: Botafogo, Fluminense, Flamengo and Palmeiras. From the continent, only Boca Juniors and River Plate got along the way.
The Argentines returned home with only one victory in six games, won by River over Japan’s Urawa Red by 3-1. Boca had an even more melancholy farewell, with a 1-1 draw in the last round with Auckland City, the representative of Oceania, which calls itself as an amateur team.
The round of 16 will also have three representatives outside the Europe and South America axis. In addition to the aforementioned Al Hilal, two North America teams have qualified: Inter Miami, USA, and Monterrey, from Mexico.
Only the confederations of Africa and Oceania will not have representatives following the competition.
