Real Madrid may not be enjoying the best of seasons domestically, but the Spanish giants recently progressed through to the Champions League knockout stages as group winners, and now they've made a cracking start to their latest Club World Cup campaign.
Star of the show on Wednesday was Gareth Bale who scored an incredible 11-minute hat-trick as Real ran out 3-1 winners over Kashima Antlers.
The win subsequently set up a Club World Cup final against United Arab Emirates outfit Al Ain, with whom Bale and co face on Saturday at the Zayed Sports City Stadium, as Los Blancos bid to lift the trophy for the third year in a row, and fourth time in five years.
Bale opened the scoring in the 44th minute following a neat one-two with teammate Marcelo. It took the Welshman only eight second-half minutes to make it a brace following a dismal defensive error from the Japenese side, before he once again combined to great effect with Marcelo two minutes later, as he bagged his hat-trick.
The hat-trick propelled Bale's haul to six goals in his last five Club World Cup games, while he's now accumulated 10 goals to his name this season.
Real are the hot favourites to beat Al Ain this weekend, but Santiago Solari knows that his troops could be in for a potentially tricky time given that their opponents stunned Copa Libertadores winners River Plate - on penalties - in the other semi-final.
Check out Bale's memorable hat-trick for yourself right here...
