Real Madrid ‘still not perfect,’ but it owned Charlotte in FIFA Club World Cup
Charlotte belonged to Real Madrid on Sunday.
That was true on the scoreboard. That was true in the Bank of America Stadium seats. It was true during the game. After the game. It was even true before the game — hours before — as Uptown Charlotte got enveloped by the 70,248 people who attended the first of four FIFA Club World Cup matches the city will host.
Everyone felt that the La Liga giant had Charlotte in the palm of its hand.
Even if, by Real Madrid’s own evaluation, the team wasn’t the best version of itself in its 3-1 win over CF Pachuca, a Mexican club.
“Still not perfect,” Jude Bellingham, the Real Madrid midfielder, said postgame. “But that’s the beauty of it.”
Real Madrid found a way to win Sunday despite being down one of the most captivating athletes in the world in Kylian Mbappe, who spent time in the hospital earlier this week and whose timeline for return is still up in the air. The team did so despite a 7th-minute red card by young defender Raul Asencio, which put the team down a man all game.
Real Madrid also did so despite many statistics showing that this was Pachuca’s game. Pachuca, which competes in Liga MX, had more attempts at goal (25 to 8), attempts at goal on target (9-3), corner kicks (7 to 2). Real Madrid dominated possession — 58% to 42% — but that figure was a bit misleading toward the end of the second half, with Real Madrid up 3-1, pinballing the ball around the middle third while Pachuca tried to seize any and every chance.
But what wasn’t misleading? The three moments of brilliance that defined the contest. The first came in the 35th minute in the form of a connection between Fran Garcia and Bellingham, who finished off a run with a golden right-footed strike in the bottom-right corner of the net. The second came in the 43rd courtesy of Arda Guler, which was eerily similar to the score from Bellingham just before. The third came in the second half via the touch of Federico Valverde in the 70th minute — extending the score to 3-0.
Elias Montiel of Pachuca scored off a strike that was deflected in the box and found the back of the net in the 80th minute to bring the game to its final score.
Sunday marked Real Madrid’s first win of the FIFA Club World Cup; it next plays RB Salzburg at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. But for as dominant as Sunday was for Real Madrid, the idea that it left a lot on the pitch on Sunday lingered.
“It was obviously tough after Asencio got sent off,” Bellingham said. “He’s a young defender so it happens. There’s no harm in making a mistake. It was a test of our character. A test of our leadership as well. I think it was important when the manager decided we had to change shape. We all took that responsibility well. We all kind of communicated with each other to make it easier for the team.
“After that, we had to weather a little bit of the storm. They had a lot of shots. (Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois) was fantastic. And then we had our chances. We were clinical and we took them. A good win.”
Head coach Xabi Alonso agreed.
“Today, I can’t say that we have shown what we have tried to train in these couple of days,” Alonso said. “Or even in the team talk before the game. Today was all about adapting to the context of where we were, with the principles to be in good shape, to have good distances, to have good balance to defend.”
This isn’t Real Madrid’s first time in Charlotte. The squad did so in an international friendly last summer, when they defeated Chelsea FC, 2-1. So it feeling like home might not be all that much of a stretch.
Plus, Charlotte is used to such spectacles. On top of the venue’s regular diet of Charlotte FC contests, Bank of America Stadium has been home to the CONCACAF Gold Cup event in 2023 in addition to a bunch of one-off events. In fact, one of those one-off events was the host of one of the coolest moments in Charlotte’s sports history. It was when Charlotte FC faced Chelsea in an exhibition match — and a 16-year-old Charlotte FC academy player in Brian Romero forced a handball in the box in the waning minutes of the contest, then overtime, then a shootout and then a win.
That night, for Charlotte, was close to perfect.
What Real Madrid did Sunday wasn’t that.
But to the city that came out to see them, it was wonderful nonetheless.
Other moments to catch soccer in Charlotte
SL Benfica vs. Bayern Munich on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Round of 16 (Match 50) on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Round of 16 (Match 53) on Monday, June 30, at 3 p.m.
Get tickets at TicketsCenter.com.
This story was originally published June 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Real Madrid ‘still not perfect,’ but it owned Charlotte in FIFA Club World Cup."
