Bayern Munich Beat El-Ahly 2-0 To Make Step Towards Winning A Historic Sixth Title

Bayern Munich has reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup. On Monday, the German record champions and current UEFA Champions League holders dispatched Egyptian side El-Ahly 2-0 in front of 12,000 spectators at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Doha. The man of the match was once again Polish striker Robert Lewandowski; his brace meant that he has now scored 29 goals in just 27 competitive games this season. 

Both the statistics and the final result suggest that this was an easy victory for Bayern. But despite 69% possession and 24 to 5 shots on goal, there was once again a sense that this Bayern side was only just one tiny mistake away from conceding. Perhaps it was the difficult travel to Doha—the club’s flight got delayed by several hours on Friday night—or just the schedule overall this season but Bayern at times were sloppy in their buildup play and their defensive work. 

As a result, there was nervous energy whenever El-Ahly did win possession and tried to play quickly forward. Bayern not scoring a second goal after Lewandowski scored in the 17th minute did not help either. “We got into the game well in the first 35 minutes, then we made too many unnecessary mistakes,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich said to the media after the game. “In the end, it was a deserved win, even though it wasn’t quite brilliant. We’ll regenerate in the next couple of days to gather strength and win the final.”

Bayern certainly had chances to see off the game in the first half. Marc Roca, the Spaniard got to start the game next to Kimmich in midfield, just about missed the goal in the 24th minute. Then in the 37th minute, Lewandowski got on the end of a beautiful Bayern combination, but his lop sailed over the crossbar. Finally, in the 40th minute, Alphonso Davies just about missed the goal with a shot from the edge of the penalty box. 

“It was a deserved win, but we could have scored the second goal earlier and finished the game off,” Thomas Müller said when asked about Bayern’s efficiency in front of the goal. “We’ve achieved our goal, and we are in the final. Now we have the chance to win the Club World Cup.”

Bayern will now meet Tigres UANL in the final on Thursday. The Rekordmeister could become just the second club after FC Barcelona to win six titles in just 12 months. Bayern Munich has won the Champions League, the Bundesliga title, the DFB Pokal, the DFL Supercup, and the UEFA Super Cup since Hansi Flick took over in November 2019. 

There will also be an added incentive when Bayern Munich face Tigres UANL—the Mexicans beat Copa Libertadores winners Palmeiras 1-0 to reach the final. Bayern players Manuel Neuer, Jérôme Boateng, Müller, and Kimmich, were all on the pitch when Germany lost 1-0 to Mexico on matchday 1 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Germany would never recover from the result and crash out of the tournament following the group stage. Two Tigres UANL players were also on the pitch that evening, center-backs Carlos Salcedo and Hugo Ayala—German teams have a long history of enacting revenge for past results as Bayern’s 8-2 victory over Barça and Germany’s 7-1 victory over Brazil can attest. 

Revenge or not, Bayern will be well prepared for Thursday’s fixture against an opponent that will bring more quality to the pitch than the Bundesliga side’s semifinal opponent. “I watched the first semi-final yesterday,” Hansi Flick said when asked about his club’s opponent in the final. “Tigres is a very dynamic team with a lot of power. We have to counter that well in the final.”

Manuel Veth is the editor-in-chief of the Futbolgrad Network and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth