Andreas Schjelderup scored early and Benfica held on amid oppressive conditions for a 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich on Tuesday afternoon in Charlotte.
Anatoliy Trubin made four saves to keep Benfica’s second consecutive clean sheet and preserve its first-ever competitive victory over Bayern as the Portuguese club finished atop Group C and extended their FIFA Club World Cup campaign.
Benfica (2-0-1, 7 points) will face either Chelsea or Esperance de Tunis, who play later Tuesday to decide the second spot in Group D, in a Saturday round- of-16 clash also in Charlotte.
A heavily rotated Bayern (2-1-0, 6 points) had already clinched their spot in the knockout phase and will face Group D winner Flamengo on Sunday in Miami Gardens, Florida
Benfica went in front 13 minutes into a sluggish first half that was played amid temperatures hovering around 97 degrees and beneath bright sunshine.
Ángel Di María played a ball wide down the right for Fredrik Aursnes, who then dragged a low cross back to the penalty area. That’s where Schjelderup met it in stride and fired a low first-time finish past Manuel Neuer.
Trubin was exceptional after halftime as Benfica weathered increasing Bayern pressure.
In the 51st minute, Leroy Sané ran onto Joshua Kimmich’s ball over the top but was denied by Trubin, who also made a more comfortable save of Thomas Müller’s follow-up effort seconds later.
Kimmich thought he’d scored from the edge of the penalty area in the 61st minute, but the goal was ruled offside because Harry Kane was standing in an offside position and in the goalkeeper’s view.
In the 74th minute, he denied Aleksandar Pavlovic with an outstretched leg from about 10 yards after Bayern’s initial cross from the right rattled off a few bodies inside the area.
Then in the 87th, he thwarted Sané on the break for a second time after Sané ran onto Harry Kane’s excellent through ball.

PHILADELPHIA: Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca has insisted that the club’s owners are not putting extra pressure on him to win the Club World Cup as a result of the enormous financial incentives on offer at FIFA’s new tournament.

World football’s governing body has dangled the carrot of a total $1 billion in prize money to the 32 competing teams in the United States.

If Chelsea, as one of the 12 European representatives, go on to win the trophy on July 13, they can take home around $125 million (£92.4m) as a cash reward.

That could give the Stamford Bridge side a considerable advantage over many of their English and European rivals going forward into next season.

However, Maresca claims money has not come up in discussions with the club’s hierarchy around the ongoing competition.

“The owners just want the best for us and for the players game by game and they are not talking about the final prize or the final reward in terms of money,” the Italian told reporters in Philadelphia ahead of Tuesday’s match against Esperance of Tunis.

“They never put pressure on me or the players in terms of we need to win this tournament because of the money.”

Chelsea must avoid defeat against the Tunisian four-time African champions in order to qualify for the last 16 from Group D.

That is after they were beaten 3-1 by Brazilian giants Flamengo in their last game, when Maresca appeared to prioritize tactical experiments over the need for results.

Playing Cole Palmer on the right of a front three was not a success, as the England international struggled to make a big impact on the game.

“Off the ball Cole was defending a little more wide, but the position on the ball was exactly the same position as during the season,” Maresca explained.

“If it is a good moment or not to try new things, I don’t know. But we also are here to think about the future, and to try different systems.

“Last year we played three or four different systems during the season. The idea is to continue to evolve and improve, and to try different things.”

Philadelphia is sweating under a fierce heatwave at the moment, and while the 9:00 p.m. local time kick-off on Wednesday should mean that is not a huge factor for the game itself, it has made preparations tricky.

“It is almost impossible to train because of the weather. Now we are just trying to save energy for the game,” said Maresca, who is likely to rotate his squad and make numerous changes to the starting line-up.

Striker Nicolas Jackson is suspended after being sent off against Flamengo having come on as a substitute only a few minutes earlier.

Chelsea won their opening match at the tournament, defeating Los Angeles FC 2-0 in Atlanta, before the reverse at the hands of Flamengo.

Esperance bounced back from a defeat to the Brazilians as they beat LAFC 1-0 in Nashville in their last outing — that is the only victory so far in six matches at this Club World Cup for a North African team.

If Chelsea go through they will head to Charlotte for a last-16 tie on Saturday against the winners of Group C, which could be Bayern Munich.

“If we go through we can talk about Bayern,” said Maresca. “In this moment it has to be about tomorrow. Football is full of surprises.”

Maher Kanzari, the coach of the Tunisian champions, said his team were ready for a ‘historical’ battle against the Blues.

“We are prepared and we have to fulfil the expectations of our technical team, of our fans, of the Tunisian public. It will be a historical game,” he said.

“We will be well prepared, especially mentally. Everyone is waiting for this game and we are really proud of what we have achieved so far.

“Hopefully we will do what it takes.”