In the end the huge physical effort put in by the Japanese made them pay the price of allowing spaces & dropping in concentration. This & some bad luck - Antlers hit the post in extra-time - allowed Real Madrid to pull away in the final part of this very interesting encounter.
Kashima had their plan & never swayed from it throughout the whole match. Intense marking & defending looking for counter-attacks. Real Madrid may have sinned of going into this Final with "over confidence" but soon were put back to Earth by Kashima. Real Madrid got ahead first with Karim Benzema opening with his 9th min goal. However, Kashima then gradually gained control & equalized in the 43rd min through Shibasaki & went ahead in the 51st min, again Shabaski.
Danger lights appeared & Real Madrid put in an extra effort to find the equalizer in the 60th min through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty after Lucas Vazquez was fouled in the goal area. The match was then end to end stuff & Real Madrid was suffering up to the 90th min. Kashima was dominating totally & took the game into extra-time.
It was during the extra-time that Real Madrid pulled from experience, quality & pride as Kashima fell in intensity & tiredness took its toll. In two actions Cristiano Roanldo scored in the 98th min & again in the 118th min to get his HAT-TRICK. Curiously Ronaldo had been playing badly & having an ordinary night until he exploded in just 10-15 mins.
The controversial moment was when the referee forgave a possible second yellow card to Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. Had it been shown it would have left Real Madrid with 10 men & given Kashima a big advantage. No doubt this will be a big talking point post-match.
Lastly, outstanding game from Modric, Benzema & Lucas Vazquez, while Navas made some important saves.
Another title for Real Madrid which claims the World Clubs Champions title to rounds off an extraordinary 2016.
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