Madrid lasts 90 minutes with one man less and shines against Pachuca to put on a World Cup smiles.

Madrid overcame Asencio 's sixth-minute sending-off and put in their best minutes of the World Cup to comfortably beat Pachuca and take a step closer to qualifying for the last 16. Xabi Alonso 's men responded to the red card with three goals, shared by Bellingham, Güler and Valverde , and with an extraordinary performance from Courtois , who once again proved their savior.

Güler's entry in place of Rodrygo was the only change to the starting lineup compared to the opener against Al Hilal . The only one, but the most necessary. The Turk was the best, creating, filtering, pausing, and accelerating sensations when his team asked, playing some of the Real Madrid's best minutes.

And yet the match started with drama, with Asencio once again the protagonist. The center-back, who erred in the opening matchday when he took the penalty that tied the Saudis' game, made another glaring error. In the sixth minute, Rondón , a veteran of a thousand battles, caught him behind a long ball, took a body and got in front of him, running toward Courtois's area, and in the struggle with the Spaniard, he went to ground. It was a simple decision for the referee: red.

Madrid was on the precipice of the Club World Cup. After a poor performance in the opening match, they were down five minutes into the second game. A blow to the face took some time to recover from. Pachuca, incisive, tested Courtois with Kenedy and Rondón, but Courtois appeared in his superhero cape to save the day.

Alonso positioned Tchouaméni as a center back and left Güler with Valverde and Bellingham alongside him. The Whites suffered there because the Turk doesn't retreat as much, either in position or physicality, and Pachuca besieged the Madrid box for 20 minutes. Bautista, on a rebound after Kenedy's shot, forced Courtois to inexplicably fly high to prevent the goal.

The change came with the hydration break. Alonso brought his midfielders together and modified the defensive system. He put Valverde and Bellingham in the double pivot, Güler on the right, Gonzalo on the left, and Vinicius , free, as a nine. Madrid grew from there, starting to steal the ball more easily and able to fly in transitions toward the opponent's box.

Güler , starting on the right but moving to the center when releasing the ball, swapping positions with Valverde and leaving the right side free for Arnold, was the best. And Bellingham shone closer to the center and further away from the center forward. That's how the 1-0 came about.

Valverde saw Gonzalo with his back to goal at three-quarters of the pitch, and the youth player, with just a flick of his heel, laid the ball into space for Fran García. The full-back drove deeper down the left and saw Bellingham arrive on the edge of the box, where the Englishman, powerful, burst into the box and finished with his left foot, diagonally, to ease Madrid's momentum in the United States.

The goal shocked Pachuca and pushed Madrid forward, happy to see that football was rewarding their feelings and masking their frustrations of recent days. In the 42nd minute, the Whites produced their best play of the tournament. Vinicius opened a long pass down the right for Arnold, the Briton passed a low ball to Gonzalo inside the box, and the youth player, again with a single touch, laid the ball off for Güler to arrive , allowing the Turk to finish with his right foot past Moreno.

If fear filled the bench at the start of the match, at halftime it was all smiles. Alonso left Gonzalo in the locker room and brought on Brahim , a substitution made not for physical reasons but for tactical reasons. The Toulouse native wanted more work and combinations at the base of the play and a good footwork in the closing yards. And it paid off. Although Courtois had to keep showing up.

The Belgian again saved Madrid on several occasions against Bryan, Pereira, and Rondón during a few minutes in which the Whites struggled to keep a clean sheet. So much so that Xabi again made decisions. The Basque didn't wait, and in the 60th minute, Modric and Ceballos came on for the exhausted Güler and Bellingham.

The Whites regained possession and the break and regained control of the match. In the 69th minute, Valverde , after receiving a well-chosen ball from Brahim , sealed the match. Pachuca came close with a consolation goal after a deflection from Tchouaméni surprised Courtois, but there was no war in the closing stages. Madrid took three points and breathed a sigh of relief. Xabi smiled, seemingly having found a solution.