A competition unique in its own kind, with decades of history and tradition despite the many names and titles acquired through the years. A tournament created to make history for its winners, in a format that embodies the mission to unite clubs from all over the world, in order to let them compete against each other and to confront sport cultures from everywhere, pointing out similarities and differences in perspectives and approaches in football.
This is what the FIFA Club World Cup represented from its first edition in 1887, with the so-called Football World Championship – a competition not fully recognized by FIFA that still represented the attempt to unify international football clubs and respective phylosophies – until now, this is what the tournament itself stands for today. It is, once again, a clash between European and South American football, in this year’s edition held in the UAE: it is Chelsea vs Palmeiras, to decide which is the best football club in the international scene.
ENGLISH SIDE Chelsea will hope to win the Club World Cup this afternoon and claim the one trophy that has eluded the club during the Roman Abramovich era: with five Premier League titles and the same numbers of FA Cups, alongside a Champions league trophy lifted twice, one Europa League, one UEFA Super Cup and two Community Shields, 20 were the trophies lifted in the last 19 years, with only one missing: the FIFA Club World Cup.
As it usually happens in the competition, the European contender – the winner of the last UEFA Champions League campaign, alongside the last winner of Copa Libertadores – starts the tournament one step ahead of the others, according to the FIFA regulations. Thomas Tuchel’s team approached the tournament with determination and concentration that only top-ranked clubs can show: one goal scored by Romelu Lukaku at minute 32 – a head shot propitiated by Al-Hilal defender Yasir Al-Shahrani’s mistake, after Kai Havertz great effort on the penalty line to assist the Belgian forward – was enough to ensure Chelsea a pass to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Strength, organization, quality of plays shown in every game and a list of exceptional champions at their disposal: these are just some of Chelsea’s greatest qualities. Good news on the English club side accompanies the awaiting of the match: Thomas Tuchel, who attended Covid-19 in these days, tested negative, as announced by Chelsea’s official channels. The 48 years-old coach of the Blues will join his team with his leadership and technical guide, in an international final with great charm and prestige.
BRAZILIAN PRIDE On the other side of the pitch there is Palmeiras, which will not make Chelsea’s job so easy in today’s final showdown in Abu Dhabi. The Brazilian club won the last edition of Copa Libertadores in November, in an unforgettable final won against another Brazilian club, Flamengo, with 2-1 as final score after regular time. After this achievement, they are now desperate to win the competition, to become the first South American side to return victorious from the Club World Cup since 2012. Nine appearances in the final are the record Palmeiras will give Brazil today, and nine years have passed since a non-European side lifted the trophy.
The Brazilian team successfully reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup thanks to their victory against Al Ahly in the semifinal stage. Raphael Veiga, served by a fancy first-class touch by Dudu, unlocked the score at Al-Nahyan Stadium at minute 39; it took 219 minutes for Veiga to score Palmeiras’s first goal in the FIFA Club World Cup. In the first minutes of the second half, Eduardo Pereira Rodriguez doubled the score (minute 49), ensuring victory for Palmeiras. Palmeiras are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions (seven wins) since their last defeat in November. Also, Abel Ferreira’s side has had an extra day’s rest on top of the Chelsea for this contest, and will also naturally be better acclimated to the hot weather conditions in the middle east. Now they hope to return home from the UAE as world champions for the first time in their 107 year history.
A FIRST-EVER CLASH Both teams look forward to winning a trophy that they could not reach in their respective histories, not until now at least. Chelsea will play their second FIFA Club World Cup final in history, after the one lost ten years ago, in 2012, against another Brazilian club, Corinthians, in a match that ended up with 1-0 as the final score, decided by José Paolo Guerrero Gonzales’ mark against the Blues. On the other side of the pitch, Palmeiras searches a win in the tournament after the final loss in 1999 against another English club, Manchester United (Roy Keane decided the final of the so-called, at that time, Intercontinental Cup) and after the fourth place scooped in last year’s campaign. It will be the first clash between the two teams in an official match. This is the fifth occasion a Premier League side has competed in the Club World Cup final (two wins, two defeats so far). On the other side, Palmeiras are looking to become South America’s fourth Club World Cup champions.
The match between Chelsea and Palmeiras will be played today, February 12, at 17:00 p.m. local time at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, in Doha, Qatar.
THE COMPETITION IN NUMBERS Here follows some stats of the FIFA Club World Cup provided by FIFA.com.
– 251: Liverpool (127) and Flamengo (124) had a combined age of 251 when they clashed in 2019 – the oldest cumulative age of two FIFA Club World Cup finalists. They are followed by Barcelona and River Plate (230 in 2015), Real Madrid and Gremio (229 in 2017) and Chelsea and Palmeiras (223 this year).
– 110: Lionel Messi scored the latest goal in a final after 110 minutes against Estudiantes in 2009. Barcelona had been moments away from losing that game until Pedro headed home a last-gasp equaliser to take it to extra-time. Estudiantes remain the only side to score first in a Club World Cup final but lose it.
– 104: Thiago Silva has won more international caps (104) than the 16 men who played for Palmeiras in the semi-final have between them (82). Furthermore, Paraguay captain Gustavo Gomez has 58 of those from the Paulista giants (54). The 14 who turned out for Chelsea against Al Hilal have 613 caps cumulatively.
– 10: Palmeiras are the record ten-time Brazilian champions. Chelsea has won six English titles – the joint-fifth-best behind Manchester United (20), Liverpool (19), Arsenal (13), Everton (9), Aston Villa and Manchester City (both seven).
– 6: Six players have lifted the trophy with different clubs: Dida (Corinthians and AC Milan), Danilo (Sao Paulo and Corinthians), Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona and Bayern Munich), Toni Kroos (Bayern and Real Madrid), Ronaldo (Manchester United and Madrid) and Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich and Liverpool).
– 6: The first six finals only involved clubs from Europe and South America. Thereafter, however, five of the last 11 deciders have included a team from outside those continents, with TP Mazembe, Raja Casablanca, Kashima Antlers, Al Ain and Tigres the sides in question. The Antlers went the closest to lifting the trophy, leading Real Madrid after an hour in 2016 only to be unravelled by a Ronaldo treble, two of which came in extra time.
– 4: The biggest victory in a final was registered by Barcelona, with Xavi and Lionel Messi inspiring a 4-0 win over Neymar and Santos in 2011. It was actually the joint-biggest win in any FIFA Club World Cup game until Al Hilal thrashed Al Jazira 6-1 at this tournament.
– 0: Not one final has been played without a Brazilian appearing in it. The last team to not field a player from Brazil in the fixture was River Plate in 2015.
Source: AIPS