Vinicius Jr produced a wonderful assist as Real Madrid swept past Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 in Philadelphia and into the last 16 of the Club World Cup, where they will play Juventus on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old, whose future at the club has been the subject of speculation, scored the opening goal after 40 minutes and then stopped the ball dead with the sole of his boot and ran past it allowing Federico Valverde to slot in the second.
It was a smart piece of thinking that echoed one of the most outrageous Real Madrid goals — Guti’s famous ‘Heel of God’. Jude Bellingham also delivered a fine assist pass for the opening goal while 21-year-old Gonzalo Garcia wrapped the game up with a classy lifted finish.
The victory means Madrid play Serie A side Juventus at Hard Rock Stadium with a possible quarter-final tie against either Borussia Dortmund or Sergio Ramos’s Monterrey.
Here The Athletic’s Jack Lang and Adam Crafton break down the key talking points.
How did Vinicius Jr burst into life?
Two games into Madrid’s Club World Cup campaign and it was fair to wonder when Vinicius Jr would turn up to the party. The Brazilian was well marshalled by Renan Lodi in the 1-1 draw with Al-Hilal and did not pull up any trees against Pachuca either. When he spurned a great early chance in this match, you could almost hear the scalpels of the Spanish press being sharpened.
But by half-time, Vinicius had flipped the narrative on its head, turned his form into a non-story. First came his opening goal, a thrilling reminder of what he can do when the service is right and he is not being double-marked. The Brazilian gathered Jude Bellingham’s gorgeous pass from midfield, went past Joane Gadou as if he was not there, then fired a precise, left-footed shot into the corner.
Eight minutes later, he set up the second goal in stylish fashion, streaking through on the diagonal and setting the ball for Fede Valverde to plant a finish into the far corner. No Kylian Mbappe? Rodrygo out of favour? These are not major issues when Vinicius finds top gear. Juventus beware.
Jack Lang
What was Guti’s ‘Heel of God’?
Vinicius Jr’s smart assist for Valverde prompted many references to one of the most memorable moments in Real Madrid’s recent history: Guti’s ‘Heel of God’ pass for Karim Benzema in 2010.
The similarities were obvious. So were certain key differences. Vinicius stopped the ball with his studs; Guti did a proper backheel, which is much, much harder. Vinicius had no real shooting angle because the route to goal was blocked by a defender. Guti… it wasn’t just that he could have shot, or even that he should have; he simply had to shoot, right up until the moment at which he decided he didn’t.
🔝⚽👟 Lo de asistir de tacón @Benzema ya lo había visto antes…#EspanyolRealMadrid#LaLigaSantander#LaLigaHistory pic.twitter.com/yIEVzOADK1
— LALIGA (@LaLiga) June 28, 2020
You have probably understood the implication here. What Vinicius did in first-half injury time was clever and fun. What Guti did against Deportivo La Coruna was transgressive, transcendental. It was, for my money, the coolest thing that has ever happened on a football pitch, as well as the greatest pass of all time.
¡LA DE GUTI EN RIAZOR! 🤯 VINICIUS EMULANDO CON VALVERDE UNA GENIALIDAD HISTÓRICA 🔥
🔗 https://t.co/SAzl1Q3bcE@FIFACWC | Todos los partidos gratis en https://t.co/OFe1FpBGjK #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld pic.twitter.com/MLht6yAm7R
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) June 27, 2025
Crazy talk? Read my manifesto and I’m sure you will come round.
Jack Lang
How big is Madrid’s US appeal?
One of the takeaways from this competition is further confirmation of something we largely already knew: you can put Real Madrid just about anywhere and guarantee a blockbuster turnout by Americans. Real have played in Miami, Charlotte and Philadelphia and hit over 60,000 in each market, with over 70,000 at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
They are the only team in the tournament to have done this and, considering Madrid have not yet played a major European rival, or one of the Argentine or Brazilian teams, it really does underline their appeal.
The ticket prices for the Madrid games had also been very resilient in the dynamic pricing market in the weeks leading up to the tournament, with no tickets to watch Madrid available for under $100 — and often being sold for multiple of that — whenever I checked in on Ticketmaster’s standard admissions and resale market.
Madrid’s approach to the tournament, ensuring new coach Xabi Alonso was in place, and signing both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen in time for the tournament, surely helped the appeal, with fans knowing they were taking matters very seriously.
And they still have the carrot of unleashing Kylian Mbappe for the knockout stages.
Adam Crafton
Why were Salzburg at the Club World Cup?
For a tournament that is marketed as “the best against the best”, it does seem a little bit strange to see a team who finished third in the Austrian Bundesliga — behind Austria Vienna and Sturm Graz — among the line-up for this expanded version of the Club World Cup. Salzburg have performed handily enough, particularly with a very young team, but there are some very large teams and leagues around Europe — the Dutch, Turkish, Belgian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Scandinavian or Scottish leagues, for instance — who may wonder whether their best sides may have been pretty useful.
It may be even more peculiar when we consider that the current champions of England, Italy, Spain and Portugal — Liverpool, Napoli, Barcelona and Sporting CP — are all absent from the competition.
This is all because of something called the UEFA Ranking Pathway, which allocated the final place for a European team based on the best performance over the past four years in the Champions League. However, each country was limited to two teams, excluding all four current champions from England, Italy, Spain and Portugal, because each nation already had two qualifiers, either through UEFA co-efficient or winning the Champions League between 2021 and 2024. Salzburg were placed 18th during that period but with other nations excluded from adding more, they benefited.
It is a model that is likely to be tweaked for the next edition of the tournament, as FIFA will weigh either expanding the tournament to accommodate more of the European giants, as well as teams from other continents, in order to increase the marketability and mass appeal of event, while the European Clubs’ Association will likely lobby to increase the per country limit that has been imposed for this year’s event.
Adam Crafton
Who else made the knockouts?
After two weeks of football and 48 matches, we now have our knockout stage bracket.
On one side of the draw, the last-16 matches are Inter vs Fluminense, Manchester City vs Al-Hilal, Palmeiras vs Botafogo and Benfica vs Chelsea.
The fixtures on the other side are PSG vs Inter Miami, Flamengo vs Bayern Munich, Real Madrid vs Juventus, Borussia Dortmund vs Monterrey.
Overall, there are nine European clubs, four from Brazil, two from North America and one from Saudi Arabia. That is, on balance, probably a more diverse line-up than some were expecting before the tournament. That must be considered a positive outcome.
The round of 16 kicks off on Saturday, when Palmeiras and Botafogo play in Philadelphia.
Jack Lang
(Photo: Luke Hales/Getty Images)
