The 2016 Champions League winners took the lead on the stroke of half-time through French striker Karim Benzema before Cristiano Ronaldo, recently crowned winner of the Ballon d’Or for the fourth time, added a second late on.

The Spanish team will take on Kashima Antlers in Sunday’s (December 18) final as they bid to earn their first Club World Cup crown since 2014.

This victory also extended Real Madrid’s extraordinary unbeaten run to 36 matches in all competitions.

They have not lost since April, where they were beaten 2-0 by German outfit Wolfsburg in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

Real Madrid fielded a strong side for their semi-final against Club América, who won the CONCACAF Champions League earlier this year, which included Benzema, Croatian midfielder Luka Modric and Ronaldo.

The Spaniards looked the more threatening early on but the Mexican side had chances of their own, with Oribe Peralta firing wide after just 12 minutes.

Ronaldo then contrived to strike the post with the goal gaping as his header came back off the upright following good work from Lucas Vazquez, before Moisés Muñoz was equal to a close-range effort from Toni Kroos.

Kroos played a crucial part in Real taking the lead deep into added time at the end of the first half as he picked out Benzema with an inch-perfect pass and the Frenchman duly slotted home.

The 32-time La Liga champions, who last one the Spanish domestic league in 2011-12, exerted control after the restart as the pace of the contest failed to live up to the early stages.

Chances proved to be few and far between, although Modric was unfortunate to see his acrobatic fly wide of the post after he had been set up by Ronaldo.

Modric’s long-range strike was then saved by Muñoz 15 minutes from the end and it was not until stoppage time that Real managed to find a second goal.

Portugese star Ronaldo was given too much space in the area and he took full advantage, arrowing his shot into the bottom corner.

However, a period of confusion ensured afterwards as the assistant referee initially disallowed the goal for offside before the video replay system confirmed it should stand.

Yesterday, Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai awarded a historic penalty during the semi-final between the Kashima Antlers and Atletico Nacional as he used a TV replay to aid him in a vital decision.