The historic triumph of Bayern
The Club World Cup, despite the loud signboard, can hardly be called the most significant tournament for European top clubs.
Oftentimes, a trip to a short-term competition outside the Old World in the midst of the season does not delight them.
However, “Bayern” was definitely not concerned, because the Munich had the opportunity to win the sixth trophy for the last season and were eager to do it.
Therefore, the German club brought all the strongest to Qatar, and Hans-Dieter Flick did not even think to protect the leaders.
In such conditions, the inferior rivals in the class had practically no chance.
In the semifinals, the reigning Champions League winner beat Egyptian Al-Ahli (2-0) thanks to Robert Lewandowski's double.
In the decisive confrontation, Bayern, though not without difficulty, overcame the Mexican UNL Tigres, despite the absence of Thomas Muller, who tested positive for coronavirus right before the match.
As a result, Serge Gnabry took his place, and Leroy Zane was located on the right flank of the attack.
Thus, the Munich team formally managed to win the sixth trophy at the end of the season.
In Germany, they won the championship, the Cup and the Super Cup, and in the international arena - the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and, finally, the Club World Cup.
At the same time, victories in the national championship and the WCHM were separated by almost eight months.
It can be considered that Bayern managed to repeat the historic achievement of Barcelona, which also finished the 2008/09 season with six trophies.
Then the invincible team of Josep Guardiola, led by Lionel Messi, like Bayern Munich, became the owner of all external and all internal titles.
Other European bands have failed to do this.
Lewandowski as the best striker in the world
Almost certainly, Flick's wards would not have been able to win so many victories if it were not for Lewandowski.
It is no coincidence that many fans complained about the cancellation of the Golden Ball ceremony at the end of 2020, because it was he who could receive the award.
The Pole, after 30, is experiencing a second youth and has significantly increased his own performance.
At the end of last season, he scored 57 goals in all tournaments in 50 matches, including the WC and the UEFA Super Cup.
That is, on average, the striker hit the opponents' goal more than once per game.
For comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo has 37 goals in 46 games, Ciro Immobile from Lazio, who won the Golden Boot, - 39 at 44, Lionel Messi - 31 at 44. Moreover, the Argentinean did not show such a rate of fire even in the historical Barça season 2008/09.
Then he recorded 42 goals in his asset.
Lewandowski scored 34 goals in the Bundesliga alone and broke his own performance record in this tournament, scored 15 times in the Champions League (only Ronaldo scored more), six in the German Cup and two in the WChM.
At the same time, the forward regularly hit the opponents' goal in elimination matches.
In the Champions League playoffs, he scored in all matches except the final and, moreover, added six assists to five goals.
In the German Cup, he has six goals in five meetings, including two - to Bayer in the decisive opposition (4: 2).
The forward does not slow down the performance in the current season.
On account of his already 27 effective strikes in 26 games (excluding CFM).
And in the first 19 rounds of the Bundesliga, he scored 24 times.
Tournament opening from Mexico
The main discovery of the tournament, despite the defeat at Bayern Munich, is the Tigres.
The Mexican team became the first in CONCACAF history to reach the WCM final.
In the first round, Ricardo Ferretti's wards won a strong-willed victory over the Korean Ulsan Hyundai - 2: 1, and in the semifinals they unexpectedly beat Palmeiras with a minimum score, whose roster is estimated by Transfermarkt to be almost twice as expensive (€ 59 million against € 111 million) ...
The Brazilian team, on the other hand, deserves the title of disappointing CFM.
The winner of the Libertadores Cup lost not only to Tigres, but also to Al-Ahli in a penalty shootout.
Moreover, Abel Ferreira's squad failed to score a single goal in Qatar.
“Tigres” took part in the WChM for the first time and immediately reached the final.
In 2020, the gold-blue also won the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in history.
In the decisive match Ferretti's wards were stronger than Los Angeles - 2: 1.
The fate of Ferretti himself is curious.
The Brazilian has spent almost his entire football career in Mexico, making an appearance in Atlas, Pumas, Monterrey, Toluca and other local teams.
It is not surprising that, having switched to coaching, he remained in the country.
For Tigres, he is a kind of analogue of Yuri Semin for Lokomotiv, because for the first time Ricardo headed the gold-blue back in 2000.
But real success came to him after another return to the club in 2010.
Now under the leadership of the Brazilian "Tigres" regularly fights for medals of the national championship and five times became the champion of the country, as well as won the Champions League CONCACAF.
35-year-old scorer
The main star of the team is Andre-Pierre Gignac.
The French striker unexpectedly moved to Tigres from Marseille in July 2015 as a free agent and has since played almost 250 matches for the team, in which he scored 147 goals (for Marseille, Toulouse and Lorient "- 130 in total).
The forward on the other side of the ocean showed such a bright game that in 2016 he got into the national team at the Euro home and reached the final with it.
At home, the departure of the football player surprised many, because at that time he was only 29 years old, and it could not be said that his career was coming to an end.
So, in the 2014/15 season, the striker scored 21 goals in Ligue 1, and in the tournament scorers' race he lost only to Alexander Lacazett (27).
Nevertheless, Andre-Pierre hardly regretted his decision.
It was with his arrival that "Tigres" turned from a simple strong team into a Mexican grandee.
He also became the top scorer of the national championship twice.
Champions League CONCACAF also managed to win thanks to the exploits of the legionnaire.
In six matches of the tournament, he scored six goals, including the winning one in the final.
Not surprisingly, in Qatar, 35-year-old Gignac was leading his partners.
Moreover, he scored all the goals of Tigres at the WCHM: he hit the goal of Ulsan Hyundai twice and converted a penalty in the confrontation with Palmeiras.
Oakland City refusal to participate
The tournament itself was accompanied by serious difficulties.
Initially, by tradition, it was supposed to take place in December, but due to the fact that not all confederations had time to complete club tournaments by this time, it was postponed to February.
And New Zealand's Oakland City could not come to Qatar at all due to coronavirus restrictions in the country.
His place was taken by the reigning champion of Qatar "Al-Duhail", who took the final fifth place.
For the country, the tournament was an excellent opportunity to prepare for the 2022 World Cup, especially since the matches were held in the presence of spectators.
The local Ministry of Health has set the attendance bar at 30% of the stadium occupancy if a number of certain conditions are met, for example, vaccinations or negative tests for coronavirus.
But foreign fans could not come to the WCHM.
Historic achievement of a woman judge
The tournament went down in history thanks not only to the victory of Bayern, but also to Edine Alves Batista.
The Brazilian became the first female judge to serve a match under the auspices of FIFA.
The referee worked in the game for the fifth place between Ulsan Hyundai and Al Duhaiil (1: 3).
As a result, Edina showed three yellow cards and did without deletions and penalties.
At the same time, in European football, women referees are no longer surprising.
So, Bibiana Steinhaus has been serving Bundesliga meetings since 2017, and Frenchwoman Stephanie Frappard in 2020 received a historic appointment for the UEFA Super Cup match between Sevilla and Bayern Munich.
Tragedy the day before the final
The only event that darkened the WCC was the death of Jérôme Boateng's ex-girlfriend, model Kasia Lenhardt.
It became known about her the day before the match with Tigres.
The footballer was forced to hastily fly from Qatar to Germany.
The German newspaper Bild, citing local police, reported that the woman's death was not violent.
According to media reports, the couple broke up in early February.
Allegedly, the cause was an accident in which Lehnhardt got into Boateng's car while intoxicated.
After that, the Bayern defender decided to break up with Cassia.