In a nail-biting encounter at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Bayern Munich secured a place in the Club World Cup quarter-finals, triumphing over Flamengo with a 4-2 scoreline. The Bundesliga champions, under the leadership of new signing Harry Kane, displayed a formidable performance, fending off their determined Brazilian opponents.
The afternoon began promisingly for Bayern, with Kane opening the scoring in the ninth minute, his left-footed strike finding the back of the net off the post. The early lead was set up by an own goal from Erick Pulgar six minutes earlier. However, Flamengo responded swiftly, with Manuel Neuer making a remarkable save to deny Luiz Araujo, followed by captain Gerson's unstoppable drive in the 33rd minute.
Leon Goretzka restored Bayern's two-goal advantage with an equally impressive long-range effort eight minutes later, but Flamengo refused to give up. Early in the second half, Michael Olise handled in the area, leading to Jorginho calmly converting the resulting penalty. Nevertheless, Kane ensured Bayern's lead remained substantial, scoring a crisp finish in the bottom-right corner to secure their quarter-final berth.
Data Debrief: Kane's Spectacular Debut
Bayern had previously netted 12 goals in the group stage, with Kane contributing only one. However, the England captain made a memorable debut, scoring from both of his shots, which collectively had an expected goals (xG) value of just 0.31, demonstrating the precision of his finishing. Despite Flamengo accumulating 1.37 xG, only 0.79 of that figure came from Jorginho's penalty. Bayern completed the match with eight shots, one more than Flamengo had conceded across their three group matches combined.
Bayern now awaits their quarter-final match against Paris Saint-Germain, setting up a heavyweight clash in the Club World Cup.
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