An Historic Clash Can Bring Club World Cup to Life

Real Madrid vs Juventus

If there’s a bigger clash in the last 16 of the Club World Cup, I cannot see it!

Looking at the ties, this is the stand-out for SBOTOP football fans and, even if neither club can claim to be at their best right now (Juventus particularly), it remains an iconic fixture between the mighty Real Madrid and the ‘old lady’ of Turin.

World Club Championship 2025 highlights in Miami anyone?

 

Talking Points

Juventus are really struggling right now.

They secured fourth place in Serie A on the final day of last season to seal Champions League football next term but a look at their squad shows their class of 2025 is far from vintage.

Manager Igor Tudor has a tough test on his own hands to rekindle former glories and that was evident a few nights ago when they were well beaten 5-2 by Manchester City in their final group game.

It was also a match in which Nicolò Savona suffered a serious ankle injury which looks set to rule him out for a month.

They will be up against a wounded Real Madrid.

Runners-up in La Liga, beaten finalists in the Copa del Rey and knocked out of the Champions League as holders at the quarter-final stage, they went from top dogs in Spain, Europe and the world to being the nearly boys in 2024-25.

They also suffered a blow this week when it was confirmed that midfield star Jude Bellingham will undergo surgery on his shoulder, following the Club World Cup, to resolve a long-standing issue.

The news emerged after their 3-1 tournament win over Pachuca in which he scored the opening goal, although Bellingham is expected to feature against Juve for Los Blancos, who may be without Kylian Mbappe due to a stomach-related injury.

 

History

Putting aside three friendly meetings, these teams have clashed 21 times in history and the victory tally could barely be closer.

Real Madrid have enjoyed 10 successes in their games, Juventus nine and there have been a further two draws – even the overall scoreline is virtually as tight as it can be and stands at Real Madrid 26, Juventus 25.

Their most recent meetings competitively featured one of the most famous goals in European Cup/Champions League history.

It was the quarter-finals in 2018 when Cristiano Ronaldo (who became a Juve favourite later that year) netted a quite superb bicycle kick past Gigi Buffon – the second goal in a 3-0 win in Turin. Ronaldo, who opened the scoring, rounded off a man-of-the-match performance by setting up Marcelo for the third.

When the sides met in the second leg a week later, Juve somehow turned the tie around and goals from Mario Mandzukic (two) and Blaise Matuidi had seemed set to take the match to extra-time until Ronaldo, who else, settled the tie 4-3 on aggregate in favour of the Spaniards by keeping his cool with a hotly contested 97^th minute penalty – a decision which sent the legendary Buffon into a rage.

Real Madrid went onto be crowned champions of Europe six weeks later and become the first side to win three Champions League crowns in a row (they had defeated Juventus in the 2017 final).

The only other time they met in a major final was in 1998 when Predrag Mijatovic scored the only goal of the game to win the trophy for Real in Amsterdam.

The very first meeting was in the quarter-finals of the 1962 European Cup.

On that occasion, Real won the first leg in Italy with a goal from another legendary figure, Alfredo Di Stefano, before Juventus turned the tables in Spain via a Omar Sivori goal.

That meant, back then, a play-off in Paris to decide the tie which Real won 3-1 with goals from Felo, Del Sol and Tejada. Sivori was again the goal-getter for Juve.

 

Betting Tip

Real are odds-on with our World Club Championship 2025 betting odds, including 1X2 @ 1.65 and Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 2.13.

Juve are priced 1X2 @ 4.65 and Asian Handicap 0.50 @ 2.33.

The draw will pay out @ 3.58 and a repeat of their last game, a 4-3 Real Madrid win over two legs, is on offer @ 205.00 with Correct Score.

There has never been a goalless draw between these two and that is reflected in odds of total goal 0-1 @ 3.31, 2-3 @ 1.99, 4-6 @ 3.17 and correct score 0-1 @~ 11.50.

I cannot see past Real, even with a new manager settling in and Bellingham soon to undergo surgery, and my *** tip is Half Time Full Time Home Home  @ 2.42.

   

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