Miami Gardens: Xabi Alonso got off to a disappointing start at Real Madrid as the Spanish giants were held to a 1-1 draw by Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the Club World Cup on Wednesday.
In his first game as coach of the 15-time European champions, Alonso was denied victory when Federico Valverde’s stoppage-time penalty was saved.
The VAR-awarded spot kick looked like it would hand Madrid - and Alonso - a late reprieve after being pushed all the way at Hard Rock Stadium by Al Hilal under new coach Simone Inzaghi. But the Group H game ended tied, with Gonzalo Garcia scoring for Madrid in the 34th minute and Ruben Neves equalizing for Al Hilal from the penalty spot seven minutes later.
Madrid were given a chance at victory when VAR spotted a foul by Mohammed Alqahtani on Fran Garcia in the box.
Valverde stepped up to take the penalty two minutes into added time, but he dropped to his knees after his low effort was saved by Yassine Bounou, sparking wild celebrations from the Al Hilal goalkeeper’s teammates.
In Washington, Randal Kolo Muani and Francisco Conceição each scored two goals and Juventus closed out the first round of the group stage with a 5-0 win against Al Ain on Wednesday night.
The 36-time Italian champions opened the scoring at the 11th minute when a center from defender Alberto Costa assisted Kolo Muani’s header in front of 18,161 fans, many on them wearing white and black-striped Juventus jerseys.
Ten minutes later, Conceição dribbled the ball inside the penalty box and made it 2-0.
Kenan Yildiz scored into the lower left corner in the 31st minute and Kolo Muani second goal four minutes into first-half stoppage time put Juventus up 4-0 at the half. Conceição scored again from a center-field kick in the 58th minute.