Dubai: Real Madrid and AC Milan set up a mouth-watering final at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad U-18 International Football on Sunday with contrasting semi-final wins.
Played at the Dubai Police Officers Club, Real Madrid rode a first-half goal from Alvaro Rivero Sanchez to get past three-time defending champions Valencia, while AC Milan was dominant in their 9-0 crushing of Dubai Club.
The highlight of the AC Milan win was a hat-trick from Davide Di Molfetta as he made merry in finding gaps in the depleted Dubai Club defence. But, in the running for the tournament’s highest scorer award is teammate Luca Vido who has managed to find the back of the net on six occasions so far.
Vido has scored in all four matches so far, starting off with a goal each against Valencia and Al Shabab followed by a brace each in the last two games against Al Ahli and Dubai Club respectively. AC Milan’s Michael Fabbro is also with four goals as the top three scorers have totalled 14 goals among themselves so far.
AC Milan were by far the better team and this showed as the Italians led 6-0 at half-time. They added another three and demolition was complete as AC Milan head towards a final showdown against fellow European heavyweights Real Madrid.
In the first semi-final, the Spaniards struggled before settling for a 1-0 win over defending champions Valencia. The goalscorer was Sanchez as he accepted a cross from the right from Alberto Rubio Serna and coolly placed past Jorge Chanza on the Valencia goal.
Valencia CF have been one of the most consistent teams in the past four years of the tournament. In the inaugural year in 2010, the Spaniards beat Paris Saint Germain and then repeated their form winning the titles in 2013 and last year.
Absent from the touchline on Friday was Real Madrid’s coach and former player Ruben De La Red as he had to rush back and be with his wife Tania who was expecting their third child. His assistant Joaquin Sanchez Alvarez was pleased with the result. “Our aim was to be in the final. These players are tired after going through four matches in the last week. Now that we are in the final anything can happen,” Alvarez said.
The rivalry between Real Madrid and AC Milan goes back to exactly 59 years on Saturday when the Spaniards defeated the Italian club 4-2 on aggregate in the European League. The last meeting between the two senior sides of the clubs was in November 2010 in the group stages of the European Champions League and that ended in a 2-2 stalemate.
“Just like the matches between the senior teams, this final will bring out the best in both sides,” Alvarez added.
