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Club World Cup: Al Ain upset River Plate

December 18, 2018

Not long after the glory of winning the Copa Libertadores, River Plate found themselves on the wrong end of a shock. The South American champions lost out on penalties, after missing one of their own in normal time.

https://p.dw.com/p/3AL5e
Emirates Soccer Club World Cup | Al Ain Club vs. River Plate
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/H. Ammar

United Arab Emirates side Al Ain reached the Club World Cup final thanks to a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win against River Plate. The game finished 2-2 after extra time.

The UAE Pro League winners' goalkeeper Khalid Eisa saved the decisive penalty to earn his team a spot in Saturday's final where they will face either Spain's Real Madrid or Japan's Kashima Antlers.

It might have ended differently had River Plate's Gonzalo Martinez not hit the crossbar from the penalty spot just over 20 minutes from time.

Al Ain got off to a dream start when Marcus Berg headed in the opener just three minutes in, but Santos Borre scored twice to put the visitors 2-1 ahead after 16 minutes.

Caio equalized shortly after the restart and, having survived Martinez's penalty miss, Al Ain secured a famous victory on penalties.

jh/mf (Reuters)