Bayern Munich has cemented their place in footballing history, matching Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona to win a historic sextuple.
A 59th-minute Benjamin Pavard goal earned dominant FC Bayern München a 1-0 victory over Tigres in the final and their second FIFA Club World Cup triumph.
Hansi Flick was forced to make two changes to the team that started against Al Ahly on Tuesday. Jerome Boateng returned to Germany for personal reasons, so Niklas Sule started in place of him against Tigres. Thomas Muller was tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday. The German forward was replaced by Leroy Sane in the starting lineup. The German manager also made one tactical change as Marc Roca made way for Lucas Hernandez. The Mexican side was unchanged from the semi-final victory against Palmeiras.
Bayern thought they had taken the lead in the 18th minute. The in-form Joshua Kimmich hit a brilliant, outside-of-the-boot shot from distance into the bottom corner, but after checking VAR it was determined Robert Lewandowski, who had interfered with play in Nahuel Guzman’s line of vision, was offside and the goal was disallowed.
Die Roten had done almost everything right in the first half, but there were no goals to show for it. Tigres defended valiantly, putting bodies on the line to keep Bayern at bay.
Die Roten maintained the intensity in the second half as they pushed for the opening goal. Tigres showed more intent in the first couple of minutes, but the German Champions got back into settled shape quickly.
Hansi Flick has won more trophies (6) than he has lost matches (5) with Bayern Munich. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/aLEX97V6wC
— Football Tweet (@Football__Tweet) February 11, 2021
The deadlock was finally broken around the hour mark by Pavard. The French defender found himself in striker’s position when Kimmich’s cross was deflected in his path by Lewandowski. The linesman had disallowed the goal for offside, but VAR came to Bayern’s rescue to give them much deserved lead.
Bayern now holds all six titles available to them. That includes the Bundesliga, Champions League, Club World Cup, and UEFA Super Cup, as well as their national domestic cup (DFB-Pokal) and super cup (DFL-Supercup).
Barcelona was the only team ever to hold all six titles at the same time before. In 2009, Guardiola’s legendary team won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, Supercopa de Espana, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the Club World Cup.