Flamengo produced a brilliant second-half fightback to beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Club World Cup on Friday and qualify for the last 16, while Bayern Munich joined them in reaching the knockout phase with a win over Boca Juniors.
In Philadelphia, Pedro Neto gave Chelsea an early lead, but Flamengo, roared on by their frenzied supporters who made up the majority of the 54,019 crowd, did not deserve to be behind and came roaring back in the second half.
Bruno Henrique came off the bench in the 56th minute and quickly equalised before setting up former Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Juventus defender Danilo to make it 2-1.
Chelsea were stunned, and their hopes of pulling level again were effectively destroyed when substitute Nicolas Jackson was sent off in the 68th minute for a dangerous tackle on Ayrton Lucas.
Wallace Yan then sealed the victory for the Rio de Janeiro club, the Brazilian league leaders, when he made it 3-1 late on.
Flamengo have won both matches in Group D, and their place in the knockout stage was confirmed later when Esperance of Tunisia defeated Los Angeles FC 1-0 in Nashville.
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Chelsea and Esperance each have three points from two games, and their meeting in Philadelphia next Tuesday will decide who joins Flamengo in advancing.
Flamengo’s win followed Botafogo’s stunning success against European champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Thursday, continuing an impressive record for South American clubs at the competition.
But Bayern’s 2-1 win over Boca in Miami was the first time either a Brazilian or Argentinian team had lost in 10 matches since the tournament started.
England star Harry Kane did not find the target when Bayern hammered New Zealand’s Auckland City 10-0 in their opening game, but he opened the scoring in Miami with a clinical finish in the 18th minute.
It looked like South American clubs’ unbeaten record in the tournament so far was going to hold, but with six minutes remaining, Michael Olise provided the decisive blow.
Earlier, Benfica crushed Auckland City 6-0 in Orlando to boost their own hopes of progressing and eliminate the tournament’s only Oceania representative.
A draw for Benfica against Bayern in Charlotte next Tuesday will send them through and eliminate Boca.
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