Flamengo defeats Chelsea in Club World Cup clash, Bayern edges out Boca Juniors

Flamengo produced a brilliant second-half fightback to beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Club World Cup on Friday (June 21, 2025) and qualify for the last 16, while Bayern Munich joined it in reaching the knockout phase with a battling win over Boca Juniors.

In Philadelphia, Pedro Neto gave Chelsea an early lead but Flamengo, came roaring back in the second half. Bruno Henrique came off the bench in the 56th minute and quickly equalised before setting up former Real Madrid, Manchester City and Juventus defender Danilo to make it 2-1.

Chelsea was stunned, and its hopes of pulling level again were effectively destroyed when substitute Nicolas Jackson was sent off in the 68th minute for a dangerous tackle on Ayrton Lucas.

Wallace Yan then sealed the victory for the Rio de Janeiro club, the Brazilian league leader, when he made it 3-1 late on.

“It was a special day for me and our club,” said Flamengo coach Filipe Luis.

Flamengo has won both matches in Group D and its place in the knockouts was confirmed later when Esperance of Tunisia defeated Los Angeles FC 1-0 in Nashville.

Bayern’s 2-1 win over Boca in Miami was the first time either a Brazilian or Argentinian team had lost in 10 matches since the tournament started.

Harry Kane opened the scoring in Miami with a clinical finish on 18 minutes.

Boca equalised in the 66th minute. Alan Velasco found Miguel Merentiel down the right and he powered goalwards, skipping around Josip Stanisic before producing a brilliant finish past Manuel Neuer.

But with six minutes remaining, Michael Olise provided the decisive blow.

The results:

Group C: Benfica 6 (Di Maria 45+8-pen, 90+8-pen, Pavlidis 53, Sanches 63, Barreiro 76, 78) bt Auckland City 0; Bayern Munich 2 (Kane 18, Olise 84) bt Boca Juniors 1 (Merentiel 66).

Group D: Chelsea 1 (Neto 13) lost to Flamengo 3 (Bruno Henrique 62, Danilo 65, Wallace Yan 83); Los Angeles FC 0 lost to Esperance Tunis 1 (Belaili 70).