Real Madrid fires warning to rivals after winning FIFA Club World Cup title

Real Madrid are champions of the world for the eighth time. The Spanish giants lifted their fifth FIFA Club World Cup trophy on Saturday, adding to their haul of three Intercontinental Cup titles. The latest win comes following a thrilling 5-3 goalfest against Al-Hilal in Rabat, Morocco.

Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde scored two goals each while Karim Benzema returned from injury to contribute another goal. Los Blancos led all evening, but Al-Hilal tried hard to keep pace by scoring three goals of their own. The match was a delight for audiences in the stadium and around the world, with goals raining in from both ends.

However, in the end, Real Madrid emerged victorious despite the valiant efforts from the AFC Champions League winners. "We're very happy. For the eighth time Real Madrid is World Champion," said Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti after the match.

He then pointed out how strong the Real Madrid attack is, firing a warning to upcoming opponents whom they will be facing for the remainder of the season. "We played a good game, with lots of quality up top. Vinicius, Benzema, Valverde… they did very well. We had skill and quality," he said.

It's hard to imagine that just days ago, speculations were rife that the Italian could be heading for the sack if he fails to add to the UEFA Super Cup trophy that the squad won back in August. He has now eased that pressure a little bit, but he is certainly not out of the woods yet.

Real Madrid are still eight points behind Barcelona in La Liga, making their title defence a bit more difficult than they would like. However, they are still fighting on two fronts despite losing the Spanish Super Cup last month.

The newly-crowned world champions will head back to Spain but won't have extended celebrations. They will want to focus on training as soon as possible ahead of their La Liga match against Elche in midweek.

Later this month, they will be resuming their Champions League title defence in the last-16 against Liverpool. Then, they have the Madrid derby in La Liga before facing Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

Ancelotti appears to be very confident in his forward line, but the last few weeks proved that Karim Benzema is too important to lose. Likewise, when both Luka Modric and Toni Kroos were rested in the latter stages of the final on Saturday, Al-Hilal were suddenly able to create goal-scoring opportunities.

In other words, the squad's veterans are currently still irreplaceable, and keeping them healthy is of utmost importance. The absence of Thibaut Courtois was also felt heavily after Andriy Lunin allowed Al-Hilal to get past him three times.