Corinthians 1-0 Chelsea: Guerrero header gives Brazilians Club World Cup glory
Corinthians have become only the second team ever to win the Club World Cup twice after defeating Chelsea 1-0 in the final in Yokohama.
In an even first half, which saw both sides have spells of dominance, the Blues had the better of the chances with Cassio brilliantly denying both Gary Cahill and Victor Moses from opening the scoring.
There was a similar feel to the second 45, with both teams mostly cancelling each other out, however, Paolo Guerrero nodded home with 20 minutes left to secure the victory for his side, although Cassio did have to come to Corinthians' rescue again late on - with Cahill seeing red and Fernando Torres having a goal disallowed in injury time.
The Brazilian outfit made two changes from their semi-final win, Cassio replacing Julio Cesar in goal and Jorge Enrique coming in for Douglas. Rafael Benitez also switched things around from Chelsea's win over Monterrey, Frank Lampard and Moses starting as David Luiz dropped back to centre-back.
The Premier League side went close to taking the lead, and to testing the goal-line technology, with just 10 minutes played. Juan Mata's corner fell to Cahill who poked the ball towards goal from yards out, however, Cassio reacted quickly to smother the effort before it crossed the line.
Chelsea began to look more in control, but, with Corinthians placing men behind the ball to soak up the pressure, Benitez's men struggled to create chances.
Guerrero then started to cause the Blues problems as Tite's side took a foothold in the game. He nutmegged Cahill with ease to skip into the box, however, fell to the ground under little, if any, contact.
The attacker then found team-mate Emerson with a decent through-ball that put him in on goal, though Cahill should have stopped the pass, but the Brazilian lashed the shot horribly high and wide.
Moments after, a delightful diagonal ball from Hazard nearly sent Moses in on goal. Corinthians replied through Guerrero who then ghosted past Cahill and Luiz into the box once more, using skill and strength, but saw his strike flash across the face of goal. Emerson picked up the ball for a second chance but shot wide from the tight angle.
The west Londoners then came back into the clash with two openings before the break. Firstly, Torres' deft touch after Lampard's pass created a good chance, but the finish was weak. Then, Moses cut in from the right-hand-side of the penalty box to curl a strike towards the far corner, but Cassio did fantastically to tip it wide at full stretch.
The Corinthians keeper's fantastic display continued in the second 45 as he rushed out quickly to block Hazard's effort in a one-on-one after 10 minutes - that chance the only real opportunity until Paulinho fired just wide after the hour mark.
With extra time looming, Corinthians finally netted the breakthrough with just over 20 minutes remaining. Paulinho was allowed to run with the ball through the penalty box, before shifting it to Danilo who cut inside to shoot. The effort then deflected off Cahill into the air, leaving Petr Cech stranded on the floor and Guerrero with the simple task of heading past the three Blues defenders on the line.
Torres should have sent the game into extra time, though, with five minutes left on the clock. The ball fell to the Spain striker after a wicked deflection leaving the forward with plenty of time to pick his spot from yards out, but Cassio produced a fabulous stop to make sure his side secured the trophy.
There was yet more late drama as Blues' defender Cahill was red carded for a coming together with Emerson in the 90th minute, before Torres had a headed goal correctly disallowed for offside and Mata hit the post with the game in injury time.
ඒකනේCongratzzzzzzzz Corinthians!
Habai mamanam Hithuwema Chelsea gahai kiyala!
Hoffenheim 1-3 Borussia Dortmund: Champion returns to winning ways
Borussia Dortmund eased to a 3-1 victory over Hoffenheim at the Rhein Neckar Arena in the club's final Bundesliga game of 2012.
The German champion took the lead through Mario Gotze, and although the club was soon pegged back by Sven Schipplock, Kevin Grosskreutz and Robert Lewandowski found the net in the second half to ensure victory.
The match started fairly slowly, but out of the two sides, it was BVB which started slightly stronger, with the ball almost falling to Moritz Leitner after a tussle in the box, but Koen Casteels got down well to save.
Soon after, Gotze skipped inside from the left wing, dodging a string of tackles, but his eventual shot was blocked well by the stand-in keeper.
Just before the 20-minute mark, Hoffenheim was presented with an excellent opportunity to break the deadlock. A set piece was swung in from the left wing, and Marvin Compper beat Roman Weidenfeller to the ball, only to head over from a matter of yards.
Soon enough though, BVB showed its class show, with Gotze once again dribbling inside from the left wing, and letting fly with an excellent shot which flew past Casteels and into the top-right corner of the net.
Seconds later, Dortmund had an excellent opportunity to effectively kill the game off, with Marco Reus dribbling inside the box and prodding the ball to Lewandowski, who tried to nudge it home, but Casteels got out well to make a close-range block.
The match had opened up at long last, and Hoffenheim had chances of its own to grab a quick-fire equalizer. Kevin Volland skipped down the left, and crossed towards Sven Schipplock, but the ball narrowly evaded the striker and took a disastrous touch off Kuba Blaszczykowski, who recovered in time to clear before it cost him.
Eventually, though, the equalizer came. A high ball came into the box which Weidenfeller came to claim, but a deft Volland touch presented Schipplock with a tap-in.
On the stroke of halftime, Leitner sent his shot goalwards, but once again Casteels was there to make the save.
The young goalkeeper started the second half in much the same form, making fantastic saves to deny Reus from close range after a lovely Hummels through ball, and then from the defender himself, who had taken a fantastic shot from 20 yards.
Eventually, though, his resistance was broken. Leitner threaded a lovely ball through the defense to Reus. He selflessly gave it to Grosskreutz, who finally netted his first goal of the season from a matter of feet.
The onus was on BVB to take control of the clash and wrap up the win at this point, but Lewanowski missed a fantastic opportunity to make it 3-1, heading Reus' free kick wide.
Lewandowski did made the most of one of his opportunities, taking a through ball into his path, rounding the keeper and flicking into the top corner from a narrow angle.
The champion was still affording its opponent too much space in its own half however, and the home side soon had a great chance to halve the deficit, with Tobias Weis heading wide from a matter of yards after a fortuitous deflection.
Hummels almost grabbed a fourth with a header after a Reus corner with a little over 10 minutes to go, but it was of little consequence. BVB had done more than enough, and now climbs to third, while Hoffenheim remains in the bottom three, seven points adrift of Wolfsburg.
