German treble winners faced off against Egyptian treble winners as Bayern Munich clashed with Al Ahly in the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup 2021.
Bayern Munich beat the Egyptian champions 2-0 to set up a final clash against Mexican champions – Tigres UANL.
Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski netted both of Munich’s goals to sink Al Ahly who held their own against the mighty Bavarians. Al Ahly looked nervous at the start of the game, slightly overcome by the occasion but settled into the game later on as they executed very well on the defensive end, keeping the Germans at bay.
The first big chance came inside 15 minutes with Bayern playing some wonderful football to create a chance only to be stopped by a terrific Mohamed El Shenawy in goal to keep the score at 0-0. The African kings knew that they would have to dig really deep to have any chance of upsetting the German club.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆❓
See you on Thursday, @TigresOficial 😉 #FinalMissi6n #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/0I4bMzLu0z
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) February 8, 2021
It was not to be, however, as the chance did come once more as Kingsley Coman’s cross from the right flank picked out Serge Gnabry who then cleverly played the ball to one of the world’s best players in Lewandowski who did what he does best, to beat the keeper before he could react and give the European champions the lead.
The club of the century, Al Ahly, were not to give up so easily, however. They had a decent chance to equalise through Taher Mohamed whose header went straight at German captain, Manuel Neuer in goal. Mohamed will feel he should have done much better as the cross from Mohamed Hany was inch-perfect.
Bayern kept attacking after with Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies and Lewandowski, all missing opportunities to increase their lead.
Al Ahly came out with a purpose in the second half and were resolute in defence and looked threatening on the counter but the lack of attacking prowess in the forward lines was telling as the side failed to test sweeper-keeper, Neuer.
Bayern was finally able to break the Al Ahly defence in the 85th minute when Lewandowski scored with a simple header from a Leroy Sane cross to the back post.
The German champions were deserving winners as they dominated the game but Al Ahly can hold their heads high with their dogged display and terrific defensive discipline. The Egyptians lacked the quality in the final third to really challenge Bayern Munich.
This, however, was Pitso Mosimane’s first loss as Al Ahly manager. He went 22 games unbeaten before this, which included 18 wins including securing the treble in 2020.
The South African was proud of his team but said that it was a great reality check as to how far off the team is from challenging the world’s best players and teams. This will only make them stronger and things are looking up for the world’s most decorated football club.