European champions Real Madrid will face Mexican side Cruz Azul or the yet to be determined club champions of Asia in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup after the draw for the annual showpiece in host nation Morocco last night.

The Spanish side are three-time winners of the tournament in its former guise as the Intercontinental Cup and will be favourites going into this year’s event in north Africa from December 10 to 20.

Their opponents in the semi-finals could yet be one of three clubs, with Cruz Azul having already booked a quarter-final place against Western Sydney Wanderers from Australia or Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia, who must still contest the final of the Asian Champions League with the second leg on November 1.

In the other half of the draw, South American champions San Lorenzo, of Argentina, are expected to reach the final.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.