Goliath Erobert David: How FC Bayern Munich Defeated Al Ahly

The FIFA Club World Cup was a great concept when it was conceptualized, but one had to wonder how the teams of the world would fair against the giants of Europe. It's a competition where the winners of each federations champions league battle to be the ultimate club team of the world. It's not a concept that is hard to imagine as only four teams in the history of the competition that won it were not from Europe (in fact all four were from Brazil). For today's match up which resonated from Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, it was another battle of David versus Goliath as Germany's FC Bayern Munich collided with African powerhouse Egypt's own Al Ahly in what promised to be an interesting matchup. The competition was a holdover from the 2020 edition which was postponed and resumed this month to finish it up. Tigres UNAL of Mexico were already through to the finals and were awaiting the winner of this matchup. The game started exactly as one would wonder how it would go and that was with deadly German side threatening to score as Ahly had their backs to the wall in the first half. No matter what Ahly tried to do, Munich was constantly there to disrupt plans and to press only the way they know how and it paid off for them. 

In the 17TH minute off of a rebound, Polish star Robert Lewandowski made them pay as he launched a nice cross from Serge Gnabry right past goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy into the back of the net to give Bayern the early 1 to 0 lead. Bayern did stop there as they kept pressing and even missed opportunities in the first half to increase their lead while Ahly struggled to find their footing even losing a key player in Tunisian star defender Ali Maâloul. In the second half, Ahly started to find their footing as they pressed against Bayern who looked to slow down a bit, but Ahly could not pass Bayerns last line of defense as the European powerhouse were able to keep a clean scoresheet. With literally minutes left in the game, second half substitute Leroy Sane was able to find Lewandowski at the far post with his cross and it was an easy chip in for the forward as El Shenawy had no time to react to the pass to make it 2 to 0 which was all it took as Bayern Munich punched their ticket to the finals. There was no shame in the loss for Al Ahly as they played a decent game, but their only fault was not being able to test goaltender Manuel Neuer at all. The player of the game award obviously goes to Robert Lewandowski and his two goals which helped seal the deal. On Thursday February 11TH, Bayern finds themselves a new challenge in crafty Tigres UNAL who bested Brazilian side Palmeiras to make it to the finals.