Real Madrid cruise to Club World Cup triumph

Real Madrid cruised to their third consecutive Club World Cup on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over Al Ain. Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a slick left-footed shot from 25 metres after a cute lay-off from Karim Benzema.

The European champions added the second on the hour mark at the Zayed Sport City Stadium in Abu Dhabi when Marcos Llorente thrashed home from outside the box. The 23-year-old Spaniard was swamped by his teammates celebrating his first senior goal for the club.

Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos effectively sealed the win against the unheralded outfit from the United Arab Emirates 20 minutes later when he powered home a header to make it 3-0

Tsukasa Shiotani pulled one back for Al Ain before Yahia Nader prodded into his own net follwing Vinicius Junior's run into the box.

"We deserved to win," said Llorente who was named man-of-the-match. "We came here to work hard and we proved it. I'm happy because I scored. We could have scored more goals but we got four."

Madrid boss Santiago Solari, who, as a player, won the 2002 intercontinental trophy with Madrid, hailed former coach Zinedine Zidane for leading the club to three consective Uefa Champions League crowns.

"Nobody is likely to achieve what he has done," said the 42-year-old Argentine who took over from Zidane's replacement Julen Lopetegui in October.

"I'm very happy to have won my first trophy as coach," he added. "The players deserve their success. Many of them have already won a lot of trophies but they showed their hunger for more."

Madrid have claimed the Club World Cup a record four times since the inception of the competition in 2000 and they are the first team to win three consecutive titles.

"We had to play the perfect match to beat them," said Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic. "We had two good chances to score at the beginning of the match and we didn't take them. Once they got the first goal it was always going to be difficult."

Mamic added: "But we got to the final so we have to be proud and happy to have got this far. It has shown my players what can happen with spirit and concentration."