Real Madrid vs Al Ain SCC Predictions

Saturday’s FIFA Club World Cup final sees Real Madrid going up against Emiratis Al Ain. The Spaniards are expected to claim the trophy with relative ease but might not have absolutely everything their own way against their unfancied opponents.

Real Madrid certainly didn’t bring their struggles so far this season with them into the semi-final of the competition on Wednesday, beating Asian Champions League winner Kashima Antlers 3-1, with Gareth Bale notching a hat-trick. Los Blancos weren’t at their complete best in said game but had more than enough individual quality to get the job done; something they’ll also be hoping to have in Saturday’s game.

Currently 4th in La Liga and 6 points behind leaders Barcelona, Real are clearly not having a good campaign so far but claiming what would be a third consecutive Club World Cup title would at least provide one bright point. For all their struggles, the side have still won 6 of their last 7 outings however, and that should have confidence high coming into this one.

Meanwhile, Al Ain have done incredibly well just to even make it to the final and they’ll now be hoping to enjoy the occasion. Guests of the competition due to being champions of the UAE, the nation hosting it, the side looked set to crash out the hands of semi-professional Team Wellington in the first round after going 3-0 down to them, but they managed to eliminate them on penalties before going on to beat ES Tunis 3-0 and River Plate on penalties in the week.

To have now defeated the champions of both Africa and South America ranks as really good going for Zoran Mamic’s troops and whatever happens on Saturday, they can be proud of their efforts. Nonetheless, Al Ain certainly won’t be taking to the pitch just to make up the numbers and having scored an average of 2.85 goals per game over their last 7 matches, they’ll be confident in giving Real something to think about going forwards.

Ultimately, it doesn’t take a genius to tell you that Real have to be regarded as big favourites to win the match and almost certainly will, but the Spanish outfit are far from secure defensively and we can at least envisage Al Ain getting on the scoresheet.

Indeed, Real have conceded an average 1.18 goals per game in La Liga so far this season and having shipped 3 to CSKA Moscow as well as conceding to Melilla and Kashima Antlers in recent weeks, we really think Al Ain will score in this match and thus, backing both teams to score looks an excellent bet. 3 of Real’s last 4 Club World Cup matches have seen goals at both ends and that’s a streak that could well continue in a 3-1 win for them.