Liverpool became the most crowned English football club after winning the 16th FIFA Club World Cup edition for the first time in their history. The Reds on Saturday defeated Brazilian CR Flamengo 1-0 in the final with a stunning extra-time winner by Firmino. Liverpool are now the most successful English club with 47 titles, having won the English Premier League 18 times, six UEFA Champions Leagues (UCL), seven FA Cups, three Europa Leagues, eight EFL Cups, and four UEFA Super Cups.
Liverpool were the tenth team to win the Club World Cup after Real Madrid, which hold the record for most victories, winning the competition four times, followed by Barcelona (three titles); Corinthians Paulista (two titles); and Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Manchester United, AC Milan, Internacional, and São Paulo (one title each).
Manchester United were the last English team to win the Club World Cup in the 2008 edition. Ironically, the Red Devils were crowned the title on 21 December after beating LDU Quito 1-0, which was the same case for Liverpool in terms of the match date and the result.
Liverpool fans are now in heaven as their team won the last UCL, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, and currently lead the English Premier League.
The Reds ended the Spanish teams’ dominance of the Club World Cup, where Real Madrid won 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018 editions, and Barcelona in 2015.
Liverpool also avenged their previous 3-0 loss to Flamengo in the 1981 Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, Japan.
Mohamed Salah makes history
Liverpool’s star Mohamed Salah is now the first Egyptian player to win the Club World Cup and the Best Player award in the world competition.
However, Salah is not the first Egyptian footballer to play a Club World Cup final. Al Ahly’s star Hussein Al-Shahat once played the world competition’s final with his previous team, Al Ain, but they lost to Real Madrid in the last edition.
After Liverpool won the FIFA Club World Cup title, the FIFA Technical Study Group chose Salah as the Player of the Tournament.
Given his outstanding performance throughout the competition, the Liverpool star was a deserved winner of the Adidas Golden Ball and Alibaba Cloud Player of the Tournament award.
In addition, Salah was also named Man of the Match against Mexico’s Monterrey in the Club World Cup semi-final.
Jürgen Klopp ends his final curse
Liverpool’s German coach Jürgen Klopp managed to turn his miserable record in finals around and began to achieve titles, after he had his share of bad luck, before leading the Reds, where he lost three European finals. Under Klopp, Liverpool won two European titles in 2019 following three failed attempts. The Reds beat Tottenham 2-0 in the 2019 UCL final at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium and won UEFA Super Cup at the expense of Chelsea, ending Klopp’s bad luck with the continental competitions.
Klopp with Borussia Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich in the 2013 UCL final at Wembley Stadium. Three years later, the German coach with Liverpool reached the Europa League final but lost to Sevilla. In 2018, Liverpool played against Real Madrid in the UCL final and also lost the title.
Klopp hopes to complete the successful run with the Reds, and lead them to win the English Premier League title for the first time after 29 years since they last won it. Liverpool now lead the Premier League table, with 49 points, 10 points ahead of the second-placed Leicester City.
