Liverpool Beats Flamengo to Win Its First Club World Cup Title

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DOHA, Qatar — Roberto Firmino clinched Liverpool’s first Club World Cup title on Saturday, scoring in extra time to seal a 1-0 victory in the final over Flamengo to assert Europe’s footballing dominance over South America.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson’s defense-splitting pass picked out Sadio Mane who squared for Firmino to net in the 99th minute and become Liverpool’s savior again in the Qatari capital for the second time in three days.

The Brazilian forward also struck in the semifinal victory over Monterrey, giving him two goals in as many games in the 2022 World Cup test-event tournament having only netted once in the previous 16 games for Liverpool in all competitions.

Unlike on Wednesday, when Firmino scored in stoppage time, Liverpool was denied a chance for a 90th-minute winner against Flamengo when a decision to award a penalty was overturned in a moment of confusion.

Qatari Abdulrahman Al Jassim pointed to the spot when Rafinha clipped Mane’s heel before going over to reassess the incident on the touchline monitor. Flamengo fans who dominated the 45,000-crowd at Khalifa Stadium were delirious when the internationally inexperienced referee determined the incident had happened outside the penalty area.

The reprieve was only brief as Fabinho allowed Liverpool to avenge the loss to Flamengo in the 1981 single-game version of this competition.