The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is off and running, and has produced plenty of talking points and storylines already. Let’s catch you up on what’s happening, what you’ve missed and what’s still to come.
We will update this file throughout each matchday with the latest reporting, analysis and fun from the competition, so check back regularly for the latest news as we follow the fun leading up to the tournament final at MetLife Stadium on July 13.
The lead: Madrid bounce back with statement with over Pachuca
CHARLOTTE — The 3-1 scoreline might not suggest it, but Real Madrid suffered in Charlotte. Raúl Asencio‘s early red card meant Madrid had to battle for almost 90 minutes, with 10 men, in the North Carolina heat. And their opponents, Pachuca, did their best to capitalize. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois performed his customary miracles — making 10 saves — to keep Madrid in the game at key moments. But in the end, this will have been a satisfying display for coach Xabi Alonso, who saw his team regroup, reform, and ultimately overcome adversity.
It wasn’t a promising start. Madrid signed half a new defense for this Club World Cup in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen; on the evidence of their two games so far, they should consider investing in the other half. Against Al Hilal and now Pachuca, mistakes from center back Asencio have gotten the team into trouble. In Miami, Asencio’s careless foul gave away a penalty to make it 1-1 and in Charlotte, his desperate pull-back of Salomón Rondón got him sent off.
“Two games, and the same mistake,” Courtois said, pointedly, at half-time. “We have to be more intelligent.” In his debut news conference, Alonso talked about wanting his Madrid team to be “flexible” and “dynamic.” Here, those qualities were on show in the way the coach reshaped the side after Asencio’s dismissal, as Federico Valverde moved inside from the right to help out Arda Güler and Jude Bellingham in midfield.
