Overview
Not Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior or Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid have a new hero.
Gonzalo Garcia's breakthrough tournament continued as he headed the ball to seal a 1-0 victory over Juventus in the round of 16 of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
This was Garcia's third goal in the tournament, after the Spaniard scored against Al Hilal and Red Bull Salzburg in the group stage. The 21-year-old, who scored 25 goals for Real Madrid Castilla in the 2024-25 season, also had an assist against Pachuca.
That means Garcia has been directly involved in at least one goal in all of Madrid's matches at this year's FIFA Club World Cup. He is the only player in the tournament to do so.
Garcia's latest contribution came from the branded pass from rookie Trent Alexander-Arnold. This was also the former Liverpool player's first assist for his new club.
Los Blancos deserved the victory with 21 shots compared to Juventus' 6 shots and 11 on target. This is almost equal to the number of shots they have taken in the entire group stage (14).
This victory opened the clash between Real Madrid and Dortmund, who beat Monterrey 2-1 in the round of 16. Dortmund controlled the game well after Serhou Guirassy's goals in the 14th and 24th minutes. However, German Berterame helped Monterrey shorten the score early in the second half and the Spanish team continuously put pressure to equalize.
Dortmund finally stood firm as coach Niko Kovac praised the team's resilience. There is no doubt that Kovac has revived Dortmund.
They have now won nine of their last 10 games in all competitions (D1) and 15 of their 24 since his appointment (D4 L5). Before Kovac's arrival, Dortmund had won just 10 of their 24 games (4 draws, 10 losses).
However, Real Madrid have the advantage in recent meetings between the two sides. They have won 4 consecutive matches against Dortmund, all in the UEFA Champions League, including a 5-2 victory in the group stage last October.
This will be the fifth knockout match between Madrid and Dortmund. The Spanish side have won three of their previous four, including the 2024 Champions League final.
Dortmund's only win in that time came in the 2013 Champions League semi-finals, when they won 4-3.
This match will see Jude Bellingham face his former club once again. However, this time there will be no reunion of the Bellingham family. Jobe will be absent from this match after receiving a yellow card against Monterrey.
Predicting the result
According to the Opta supercomputer, Real Madrid is the team rated much higher than Dortmund to advance to the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
Los Blancos have a 59.7% chance of doing so, while Dortmund have just 27.4%.
Score prediction: Real Madrid 3-2 Dortmund
The match between Real Madrid and Dortmund takes place at 3:00 am on July 6 (Vietnam time).
