The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 has its semi-finallists at last as Real Madrid survived an almighty injury time scare from Borussia Dortmund to book their spot in the semi-finals of the tournament with an extremely tight 3-2 win, while 10-man Paris Saint-Germain or PSG beat Bayern Munich 2-0 and will face Madrid in the final four.
Gonzalo Garcia gave Real Madrid the lead just 10 minutes into the match and Fran Garcia doubled it 10 minutes later. Maximillian Behler pulled one back in the second minute of injury time but Kylian Mbappe restored parity just 2 minutes later. However, Serhou Guirassy’s late penalty meant the danger of extra time lurked until Thibaut Courtois made a big save off Guirassy to seal the win.
The winners of PSG vs Real Madrid will now face the winners of the Chelsea vs Fluminense in the final of the tournament.
Real Beat Dortmund But Appear Less Than Convincing
The issue with Real as of now is that despite their undeniable quality, they tend to look shaky in key moments and that ends up handing their opponents ways back into the game.
To make matters worse, they will be without defender Dean Huijsen as he picked up a red card against Dortmund and will thus be suspended for the game.
Even Courtois, who pulled off a superb save in the dying minutes of the game to ensure Madrid did not have to face extrat-time, called for a more calm approach in the next game.
“The nervousness, we need to learn to be more calm in the next game and finish the game in possession,” Courtois said after the match.
Semi-Finals Date and Time
The first semi-final of the tournament sees Chelsea face Brazilian side Fluminense, with both sides boasting underdog status given who they stand to face in the final.
Their match takes place on June 8 (Tuesday), whereas the Real Madrid vs PSG match takes place a day later on June 9.
The final will then take place on June 13, which is Sunday.
For fans in the Indian subcontinent, all matches will begin at 12:30 AM IST.