Kashima Antlers 3 Guadalajara 2: Comeback win sets up Real Madrid semi-final

Real Madrid will face Kashima Antlers in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals after the AFC Champions League winners beat Guadalajara.

Kashima Antlers beat Guadalajara in the FIFA Club World Cup

Kashima Antlers came from behind to beat Guadalajara 3-2 and set up a FIFA Club World Cup semi-final with Real Madrid. 

Winners of the 2018 AFC Champions League, Kashima fell behind three minutes into Saturday's encounter after Angel Zaldivar headed home from Isaac Brizuela's floated cross. 

The crossbar came to Kashima's rescue when Orbelin Pineda tried his luck from distance on the stroke of half-time, and the J-League side took full advantage of their good fortune after the interval. 

Ryota Nagaki made no mistake with a close-range finish after good work by Shoma Doi, who was the key to Kashima's second as he drew a clumsy foul in the box from Michael Perez.

#ClubWC | HT

@atlrs_english 0-1 @Chivas

Angel Zaldivar's early opener sees the @Concacaf side lead at the break pic.twitter.com/1b0jZiqHX2

— #ClubWC (@FIFAcom) December 15, 2018

 

Serginho tucked away the resulting penalty and Kashima doubled their advantage when Hiroki Abe curled home an exceptional finish six minutes from time. 

VAR was utilised to award Guadalajara a spot-kick and while Kwoun Sun-Tae made a fine save to deny Alan Pulido, Hugo Leonardo diverted the ball into his own net.

However, despite conceding deep into stoppage time, Kashima booked a tie with LaLiga giants Madrid on Wednesday.