Gareth Bale hat-trick sends Real Madrid into the Club World Cup final
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Your support makes all the difference.Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick in 11 minutes to put Real Madrid in control in their Club World Cup semi-final clash against Kashima Antlers in Abu Dhabi.
The Wales forward opened the scoring just before the break, side-footing home, and then added two more in quick succession early in the second half to put the Spanish giants 3-0 up.
He scored his second after 53 minutes and completed his treble two minutes later with another neat finish to become the third player in Club World Cup history to score a hat-trick.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez also managed the feat.
PA
PREVIEW
Real Madrid vs Kashima Antlers kicks off at 4:30pm on Wednesday 19 December.
Where can I watch it?
The match will not be shown live in the UK, but you can follow the action with The Independent’s live blog.
Which teams are involved?
River Plate, Argentina (Conmebol)
Real Madrid, Spain (Uefa)
Kashima Antlers, Japan (AFC)
Esperance de Tunis, Tunisia (CAF)
Guadalajara, Mexico (Concacaf)
Team Wellington, New Zealand (OFC)
Al Ain, UAE (AFC)
46 minutes
Daigo Nishi struggled to deal with Gareth Bale and Marcelo's combined might in that first half and Atsuto Uchida will slip in to that right back berth, with Nishi moving into midfield.
48 minutes
Kashima will have to score at least once to have any chance of progressing to meet Al-Ain in the final. Beyond those two early efforts they haven't looked like threatening, let alone beating, Thibaut Courtois in the Real Madrid goal.
49 minutes
What a block!
Gareth Bale slides on to a ball at the byline that just evades Kwoun Sun-Tae, and Karim Benzema is there to latch on to the loose cross.
Benzema beats the now out of position Sun-Tae, but Shuto Yamamoto had placed himself perfectly behind his goalkeeper on the line and blocks away Benzene's effort.
A crucial intervention.
GOAL! Kashima Antlers 0-2 Real Madrid (Gareth Bale, 53 minutes)
Two awful errors and Bale has a second!
Shuto Yamamoto plays a ridiculously underhit pass back towards his goalkeeper. The left-back's blushes seem to have been spared when Jung Seung-Hyun gets to it first.
But the Korean centre-half bizarrely fails to clear his lines, instead weakly tapping the ball to his left, allowing Bale to jog to it and slot home with the greatest of ease.
GOAL! Kashima Antlers 0-3 Real Madrid (Gareth Bale, 55 minutes)
Hat trick for Gareth Bale!
It is turning in to a rout in Abu Dhabi.
Several Real Madrid players turn down shots at goal, dragging the Kashima defence out of position and opening up space on the left.
Marcelo notches a second assist, calmly feeding Bale in acres of space, and the Welshman fires high into the side of the net across Kwoun Sun-Tae to seal it.
57 minutes
Dagio Nishi has had a rather tough night in Abu Dhabi, and Go Oiwa's second change sees the right-back/central midfielder replaced by left midfielder Koki Anzai.
60 minutes
Gareth Bale receives a standing ovation from all in the Zayed Sports City Stadium as he is replaced by Marco Asensio.
Three goals, and Bale will get half-an-hour to rest up for Saturday's final.
62 minutes
Koki Anzai runs the diagonal and is nearly found by a clever curling pass, but Raphael Varane extends a long leg to cut it out and safely shields the bobbling ball back to Thibaut Courtois.
The Frenchman has been his solid self today and the Antlers' attackers have found little joy against Varane.
64 minutes
Karim Benzema drives forward in search of a birthday goal, a poorly executed step-over taking him wider than intended and forcing him to cross.
Dani Carvajal is the somewhat surprising target at the far post but Kashima are able to smuggle the ball back to Kwoun Sun-Tae in goal. Solid defending in the end from the Japanese side.
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