Liverpool will play Brazilian side Flamengo in the final of the Club World Cup on Saturday. They came through their semi-final on Wednesday night against the Mexican side Monterrey courtesy of an injury-time winner from their Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino, having seen their early lead, given them by Naby Keita, wiped out by the team from Central America inside three first half-minutes.
The Brazilians had booked their own place in the final 24 hours earlier by beating the Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal 3-1.
Formerly an annual match between the champions of Europe and South America, since the turn of the millennium the Club World Cup has evolved into a competition between the cup winners of all FIFAs regional confederations Asia, Africa, North America, and Oceania, together with the champions of the host nation, which, this year, happen to be Qatar, the venue of the next World Cup in 2020.
The Champions League winners from Europe, and their South American equivalents, the Copa Libertadores holders enter the competition directly at the semi-final stages, reflecting the relative strength of their competitions compared to the rest of the world.
Enthusiasm and support for the competition varies considerably across the World. Whilst it is largely ignored in Europe as an irrelevance and un welcome distraction from domestic leagues and cups, it is closely followed in South America, particularly in Brazil and Argentina, where great store is set on a club being able to claim that they are World Champions.
Despite this, it has been European clubs who have dominated it in recent years, winning the cup in every year but one 2012 stretching back to 2007, when AC Milan lifted the Cup in Japan. Liverpool, who lost out to Sao Paulo in 2005, are bidding to become the second English side since Manchester United in 2008 to win the cup.
First-time finalists Flamengo, for their part, are hoping to become the fourth Brazilian winners of the tournament apart from Sao Paulo, it has also been won by Corinthians (twice) and Internacional.
The most successful club in World Club Cup history to date are Real Madrid who have won it four times, followed by their great rivals Barcelona.
