Vinícius Júnior shines as 5-star Real Madrid become World Champions

Real Madrid were crowned FIFA Club World Cup 2022™ champions after an exhilarating 5-3 victory over Al Hilal in Morocco's Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium. It is the Spanish side's fifth time winning the trophy.

In a fast-paced game, both sides produced moments of brilliance but with two goals and an assist to his name Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior was selected as the Man of the Match by our Technical Study Group.

Final: Real Madrid 5-3 Al Hilal

MAN OF THE MATCH presented by Visit Saudi: Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid)

The Brazil international opened the scoring after just 13 minutes when Karim Benzema released him in behind Al Hilal’s defence with a beautifully timed line-breaking pass. His composed right-footed finish set the tone, for not just his own performance, but for what was to come from Carlo Ancelotti's side.

With Real Madrid dominating the ball and creating intricate attacking patterns, Al Hilal were committed to moments of defending but were explosive and dangerous on the counter-attack. It was a brilliant game to watch.

According to Cha Du-Ri, "Vinícius Júnior was a joy to watch, again! His team-mates worked so hard around him; Kroos, Tchouaméni and Modrić controlled the game from midfield, Camavinga joined the attacks from the left-back position and the combinations between Valverde, Benzema and Vinícius Júnior were often sublime.

Vinícius Júnior gives Real Madrid the lead

Vinícius Júnior's second goal of the final

"When he has the ball, he makes things happen, not just for himself but for the players around him. The assist he provided for Benzema's goal was outstanding, the technique to play that pass with his right-foot was incredible.

When he has the ball, and space in front of him, the power in his accelerations are frightening. And if there are players in front of him, he will take them on too. He is skilful, fast, technical and is still a young player, so his potential is exciting," he added.

Vinícius Júnior uses the outside of his foot to assist Benzema

When we look at Vinícius Júnior's performance data, we can see that he was once again the game's top-ranked player for sprints of > 20km/h with 70, a full 48 more than the average in this game. He was the third-ranked player for offers to receive (106) but he also worked hard for his team when they did not have the ball, making 44 defensive pressures, ranking him fifth overall in the game and 22 above the game's average.