I’ve always wanted to go to a Copa Libertadores final.
The Champions League finale of South America always looks so intense, huge crowds, awesome atmospheres, football played in a cauldron of pure white heat.
The Uefa Champions League has that same appeal. You know the team that wins that competition is genuinely the best team in Europe that season.
To have the opportunity to go to the game that pits the winners of both against each other is an utterly fascinating prospect.
Huge crowds of Palmeiras fans flanked the team bus as it departed their home training ground in Sao Paolo ahead of their trip to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup final. They entered the competition at the semi-final stage and defeated Caf champions, Al Ahly of Egypt on a 2-0 scoreline with two brilliantly executed counter-attacking goals.
Thousands of Palmeiras fans made the trip halfway across the world to roar their team to an elusive Club World Cup victory. They never stopped for the whole game, their iconic green and white colours literally bouncing in the stadium for the full 90 minutes. It meant so much to them to win the game and go through to the final against Chelsea on Saturday.
The absence of a Club World Cup trophy is a huge source of pain for Palmeiras that rival supporters use enthusiastically to taunt them. Seeing the sheer volume of their supporters singing on the streets of Abu Dhabi, you pretty quickly realised this competition means a lot in some parts of the world.
They’re a great team to watch too. Aggressive in how they press to the win the ball, but beautifully technical when they have it. Neat one-two touch passing, exquisite forward play, and pace to burn across their front four of Rony, Dudu, Veiga and Scarpa. You can catch yourself smiling as you watch them.
And they’re not purists to spite themselves. If goalkeeper, Weverton, needs to punt it long to let the forward lads play from second balls, then he will and he has some kicking range. Playing a high line against his team will have its moments of nervousness and frantic backpedaling.
He’s a Brazil international, but down the pecking order. Third choice behind Liverpool’s Alisson and Manchester City’s Ederson. That’s some goalkeepers’ union to be a part of.
And speaking of goalkeepers’ unions, Chelsea have the selection dilemma of whether to start Edouard Mendy, who has joined up with the squad fresh from his Africa Cup of Nations victory with Senegal, or stick with Kepa Arrizabalaga, who’s been manning the posts in Mendy’s absence and even made some outstanding save late in their semi-final victory over Al Hilal to keep the game at 1-0.
It will be fascinating to see who starts for the Blues in Saturday’s final, after they were made to work extremely hard to overcome the Saudi Arabian champions. Romelu Lukaku capped a strong first-half performance with the game’s only goal, a six-yard tap in as it turned out, but Chelsea struggled at times in the second half as Al Hilal really got a hold of midfield.
Kante looked a little rusty in the second half (and in need of the game time) when he replaced Jorginho at half-time but it was the technical quality of their opponents that actually caused Chelsea the problems.
Despite being favourites for final Saturday’s clash with Palmeiras, I suspect they will not have it entirely their own way. There will be a large Brazilian support at the Mohammad bin Zayed stadium – that could well outnumber the blue section – that is permitted to operate close to its 40,000 capacity.
The last time Chelsea got to a Club World Cup final was 2012 where they lost out to then Brazilian champions, Corinthians, which means this is a trophy the London club have never won. That was also the last time a European club failed to lift the trophy.
The Brazilian side have a shrewd football brain at the helm in Portuguese manager, Abel Ferreira. Sporting, PAOK, and Braga are among his former clubs as manager, whilst Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel will need to pull the strings for his team from London, via his German-speaking analyst, who will be radio connected to the bench. Tuchel tested positive for Covid in the lead up to his team’s departure date, preventing him from travelling with his squad.
And as if there weren’t enough subplots, a new semi-automated refereeing technology is being tested at this tournament. The system features limb-tracking technology which collects 26 data points from each player, and coupled with a chip in the match ball, the system can identify, in real time, if a player is offside at the moment the ball is played.
In-stadium cameras recreate 3D animations of the players involved for immediate and visual review, which TV and stadium screens can replay. It’s already been used in the semi-final between Palmeiras and Al Ahly to correctly disallow a goal for offside. It’s hoped this technology can deliver faster and more accurate offside decisions.
This new technology could enhance the experience of players, officials and supporters. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Sometimes we get the impression this competition doesn’t matter much, but, with subplots aplenty, those who are taking part appear to be treating it like any major final. I know I am fascinated to be here, in the UAE, as the South American and European champions vie for global supremacy.
