28-06-2025
Palmeiras v Botafogo: Club World Cup, last 16
Update:
Date: 2025-06-28T15:04:25.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: It's June, a football World Cup is taking place and everyone is talking about Brazil. But the more things stay the same, the more they change. This is a club World Cup, Brazilian success has caught Europe by surprise – and much of it has been achieved through defensive excellence rather than our old friend J. Bonito.
If the Fifa president Giovanni Infantino is ever the subject of a kiss and tell – oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were eating – don't be surprised to read that, not unlike David Mellor, he likes to do his worst while wearing a replica top: in Gianni's case it would probably be one of Palmeiras, Botafogo, Flamengo and Fluminense, the four Brazilian teams who have breathed life and soul into his unloved competition.
Even if European teams dominate the knockout stage, the impact of Brazil's finest will an abiding memory of the inaugural Club World Cup. That knockout stage begins with a – heat permitting – mouthwatering tie: Palmeiras v Botafogo, the first meeting at this competition between two teams from the same country. (I think it's the first at any Club World Cup since 14 January 2000, when Corinthians beat Gary Neville's Vasco da Gama on penalties in the final, but it would take an age to check every tournament since then and the nugget on offer just isn't worth it.)
Palmeiras topped a group that included Inter Miami and Porto; Botafogo beat PSG – the first in 13 years that the champions of South America have been their European equivalent – and eliminated Atletico Madrid.
The winners will play Benfica and Chelsea on this ground on Friday. Given how much this means to all four Brazilian teams, the losers may not go quietly.
Kick off 5pm BST, 1pm in Philadelphia.
