Real Madrid beat Club América to reach Club World Cup final

  Real Madrid booked their place in the Club World Cup final by beating Club América 2-0 on Thursday, although Fifa’s new video technology was again the talking point after confusion reigned following Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury-time goal.

Real will play the Japanese champions Kashima Antlers in Sunday’s final in Yokohama, looking to become world champions for the second time in three years and earn a record 21st international title.

• Karim Benzema’s classy one-touch finish put Real ahead in first-half injury time, easing their nerves after they had struggled to find their rhythm in the opening 45 minutes against the Mexican side.

Ronaldo, the new Ballon d’Or winner, rounded off a far stronger performance from Real after the interval with a powerful finish in the 93rd minute.

The goal looked to have been ruled out as offside by the Paraguayan referee Enrique Caceres before, in consultation with the video referee, he eventually gave the goal. The confusion arose as he did not view the incident on the video monitor before restarting the game and awarding the goal. In the other semi-final, the referee halted the game after being alerted to an incident by his assistant, then viewed footage on a monitor and gave a penalty to Kashima in their win over Atlético Nacional.

This year’s Club World Cup is the first football tournament to use video-assistant referees, with a pitchside monitor available to referees to check decisions.

Real initially struggled to break down the Concacaf champions in a tight first half and the only opportunity before Benzema broke the deadlock was a Ronaldo header which struck a post.

Zinédine Zidane’s side took full control after the break and hit their opponents with frequent counter attacks. Benzema spurned a free header and Ronaldo saw his stinging effort repelled by the goalkeeper Moises Munoz, while the substitute Morata wasted a late chance to finish off the game before Ronaldo’s late goal.

“We got what we came for – a place in the final. It has been difficult, but now we move on to the final,” Zidane said afterwards. “The first part of the match was a bit complicated with the tempo. The field was hard and the ball did not pass well, so we had some difficulty. The second half was much better.”

Zidane also commented on the use of video technology and the confusion over Ronaldo’s goal. “I have my ideas and it is true there has been some confusion on our second goal,” he said. “We cannot control what they want to do to improve things with technology. If it is to improve football for the better [then good], but things have to be clearer.”