Real Madrid eye fifth prize of 2017

MADRID: Real Madrid can round off the most successful year in the club’s already glorious history by claiming a fifth trophy in 2017 at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi this week.

They won La Liga, the Champions League, UEFA and Spanish Super Cup in a thrilling fashion after hitting top form in a four-month spell between April and August, but since then the European champions have faded, understandably fatigued by a heavy schedule.

Madrid trail Barca by eight points at the top of La Liga and finished second to Tottenham Hotspur in their Champions League group, which proved costly as they were paired with free-spending Paris Saint-Germain in a blockbuster last 16 tie on Monday.

However, traces of the Madrid that swept aside the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona in the spring and summer were back as Real hit five past Sevilla before half-time in a 5-0 rout on Saturday.

Until then Madrid had lacked the same killer instinct as last season with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scoring a combined total of just six times in La Liga, while Gareth Bale has made just one brief appearance as a substitute since September.

Ronaldo scored twice at the weekend to celebrate picking up his fifth Ballon d’Or in style and his return to form is timely, as Madrid face Barcelona in their final game of the year on December 23 once their work in the Middle East this week is done. “It is a reward just to be here,” said Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. “We have the opportunity to defend our title.

“We are preparing with plenty of desire and excitement. After a great game against Sevilla we are very motivated and our confidence is very high.” Real’s return to form coincided with a change of tactics from Zidane as the pace of Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez on the wings produced an instant impact.