Real Madrid crowned themselves champions of their fourth Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday, defeating Mexican club Pachuca 3-0 in Doha, thanks to goals from Frenchman Kylian Mbappé and Brazilians Rodrygo and Vinicius.

The ‘Merengues’ thus capped off a spectacular 2024 year, winning five titles. Before this success in Qatar, they had already claimed the Spanish League, the UEFA Champions League, and the Super Cups of Spain and Europe.

Mbappé, who made his return after a minor muscle injury, capitalized on a pass from Brazilian Vinicius in the 37th minute, who dribbled past goalkeeper Carlos Moreno, to finish from close range. It was the first shot on target for Real Madrid.

The team doubled their lead with another brilliant goal from Rodrygo, who feigned a shot to beat his defenders and created enough space to take a strike from the edge of the area, beating Moreno in the 53rd minute.

For a few moments, the goal was under review after Venezuelan referee Jesús Valenzuela was called to check a potential offside by Jude Bellingham.

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CEL

However, the referee concluded that the Englishman did not interfere with the play and the goal was allowed.

Five minutes later, Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to use his hand to stop a dangerous ball, which Salomón Rondón almost put into the net.

Mbappé, who had scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final that was lost to Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the same Lusail stadium, left the pitch in the 62nd minute on the decision of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who lifted his 15th title with the club—one more than the legendary Miguel Muñoz.

When it seemed like the players of Uruguayan Guillermo Almada had gained some initiative, Oussama Idrissi fouled Lucas Vázquez inside the area, and the penalty was reviewed via VAR.

Vinicius converted the spot-kick in the 84th minute with a low, powerful shot that Moreno touched but could not save.

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The newly named FIFA Player of the Year had another chance to score, while Ángel Mena managed to head the ball into the net before the 90-minute mark, but his goal was ruled offside.

In the eighth round of La Liga, FC Barcelona suffered their first setback of the season, losing 4-2 to a spirited Osasuna in Navarra. The Barça, who had won their previous seven matches, appeared disoriented due to rotations in their lineup, which the home team capitalized on to secure a well-deserved victory.

Despite the defeat, Barcelona remains at the top of the table with 21 points. However, their closest rival, Real Madrid (currently in second with 17 points), could close the gap to just one point if they defeat Atlético Madrid in the Madrid derby on Sunday.

“Rotations are normal; there are many matches, but that’s no excuse. We needed to start focused as a team, and the halftime result affected us,” Pedri stated to Movistar+ after the match. “In the second half, we deserved more, but we conceded goals when we were playing better.”

Osasuna’s victory was solidified by a brilliant performance from Bryan Zaragoza, who first assisted Ante Budimir for the opening goal in the 18th minute and then finished expertly against Iñaki Peña in the 28th minute. For Zaragoza, Barcelona seems to be a recurring victim, as in October 2023, while playing for Granada, he scored a brace in a 2-2 draw against the Catalan side.

Although Barça reacted in the second half with a goal from Pau Víctor in the 53rd minute, it was not enough to turn the tide. Coach Hansi Flick, who fielded a lineup full of youngsters like Gerard Martín, Sergi Domínguez, Pablo Torre, and Pau Víctor, acknowledged his responsibility for the defeat due to making multiple changes to the lineup.

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“If anyone should be blamed for this defeat, it’s me,” Flick explained. “We made many mistakes in the first half. We made a lot of changes to the team, and that may be one of the reasons, but it was necessary due to the accumulation of matches. It’s my responsibility.”

The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz won his first crown at Roland Garros and his third Grand Slam, after coming back in the final against the German Alexander Zverev, whom he beat by 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-2 in 4 hours and 19 minutes.

The 21-year-old tennis player, who thanks to this victory will ascend to number 2 in the world, dropped on the clay of the Philippe Chatrier court before ascending to the stands where his team and family were and hugging his grandfather, his parents and siblings.

Alcaraz becomes the tenth Spaniard to win the clay Grand Slam, adds the 26th triumph of Spaniards in Paris and the youngest winner of large trophies on the three surfaces.

In addition, he is the second youngest winner of Roland Garros, behind Rafa Nadal, the only two who have won the tournament before turning 22.

On the day of the region of Murcia, from which the Spanish is originally, Alcaraz won the tournament two years after Nadal lifted the last of his fourteen (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2019, 2020 and 2022), and inscribes his name on a payroll that Manolo Santana opened in 1961 and that, after renewing it in 1964, was expanded by Andrés Gimeno (1972), Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1989, 1994 and 1998), Sergi Bruguera (1993 and 1994), Carlos Moyá (1998), Albert Costa (2002), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2003) and Nadal.

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Alcaraz himself recognized that Roland Garros is not a tournament like the others when you are Spanish and his victory consecrates him as the banner of the hade born in the new century, which is called to take over from the ‘Big 3’.

Unlike Zverev, who four years after having lost the final in the United States against the Austrian Dominic Thiem after taking two sets up, he again wasted an advantage to score his first Grand Slam.

A hard blow for this representative of the generation of the 90s, encased between the long shadow of the ‘Big 3’ and the strength of those who have been hitting hard.

At 27 years old, he lacked some breath to prevail in the final and finish his extraordinary streak of twelve consecutive victories that he began in the last tournament in Rome, where he added his sixth Masters 1,000.

But this defeat will leave its mark on the German’s mind, by the way it was produced and by the stage, the same one in which in a few months he will seek to renew his Olympic gold.

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While Europe was electing its new parliament, Roland Garros was looking for a new king, the year in which the iron one, the one who has a statue that will forever remember his 14 titles, Rafa Nadal, had said goodbye at the age of 38 in the first round and that the only one who has made some shade on the clay, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, had left with an injury at 37.

The fight promised to be of high intensity, because the forecasts were not clearly inclined towards any, like the polls that leave everything to see what the undecided decide at the last minute.

It was very clear to Carlitos, who came from a merciless battle against the Italian Jannik Sinner, the virtual number 1 in the world, from which he emerged victorious by faith and perseverance and who did not seem to want any other suffering.