10-man Real Madrid brush aside Pachuca to win first game under Xabi Alonso | OneFootball

15-time Champions League winners were missing talismanic striker Kylian Mbappe

Real Madrid survived an early red card scare to beat Pachuca 3-1 and register their first victory under Xabi Alonso at the Club World Cup.

However, their individual quality told, as Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler, and Federico Valverde all got on the scoresheet to tally Madrid’s first three points of the inaugural summer tournament on a blistering afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rondon, the former West Brom and Everton striker, was causing problems with his target man presence, occupying Dean Huijsen and Aurelien Tchouameni to create space for his tricky team-mates on the edge of the area.

Thibaut Courtois was in inspired form for Madrid, producing a sublime double stop on 16 minutes to deny ex-Chelsea winger Kenedy and then Alan Bautista from close range as Alonso’s men clung on to weather the storm.

However, in the game’s first real flash of quality, Real came alive with some superb interplay between Fran and Gonzalo Garcia. The left-back started the move, finding the striker to feet before a neat flick around the corner from his namesake had him charging into the open grass down the left flank.

Jude Bellingham bust a lung to get up with him in support, and the England international collected the pass with aplomb before slotting home beyond Carlos Moreno with 10 minutes of the first half to play.

Just eight minutes later, it was two, as Trent Alexander-Arnold got involved. The right-back, so often the out-ball in this game, was picked out on the corner of the box, before he fed Garcia on the penalty spot. The striker set it for the onrushing Guler, who stroked home a second.

The third took a while to come after the break, and that wasn’t before John Kennedy, the Pachuca substitute, had peppered Courtois’ goal with plentiful speculative strikes from distance that needed saving from the Belgian shot-stopper.

However, it was another masterful Madrid move that sealed the victory, as Vinicius burst down the left to hare after a Huijsen through ball. The Brazilian held up the play, awaiting support, which he received infield from Valverde. The Uruguyan looked wider to find Diaz, who clipped a cute ball into the box for Valverde to prod into the corner as the midfielder continued his scamper into the box.

Elias Montiel netted a consolation for Jaime Lozano’s Pachuca with a deflected effort with ten minutes to go, but it was too little, too late, as Madrid tallied a first victory under Alonso, and gather momentum for their final group game against RB Salzburg.