Benfica beat Bayern Munich, win Group C at Club World Cup

For the first time in their history, Benfica beat Bayern Munich in a competitive match and thus upended the standings in Group C and for the knockout rounds going forward.

We had all assumed that Bayern would finish top; instead they have finished second and will thus face Flamengo in the Round of 16. So Chelsea’s reward for potentially finishing second in Group D — assuming we don’t lose to ES Tunis later tonight — is a matchup against Benfica in that knockout round — and on the weaker side of the bracket as well (at least on paper as things stand). If we were to advance there, we would face the winners of Palmeiras versus Botafogo, which would put the semifinals of this competition well within our grasp! Manchester City might be the likely opponent there.

Obviously, that’s getting well ahead of ourselves at this point. We do have to take care of business against ES Tunis first, and as we saw tonight, anything can happen in football. Not only did Benfica pull a rabbit out of their hat (thanks in large part to a tremendous goalkeeping effort from Anatoliy Trubin), but Auckland City held Boca Juniors to a 1-1 draw in the other match!

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