Tigers beat Palmeiras to book a place in the FIFA Club World Cup summit clash

Tigres set up a potential Club World Cup final date with Bayern Munich after piping Palmeiras 1-0 in Sunday’s semifinal clash in Qatar.

Andre-Pierre Gignac’s spot kick goal eight minutes after the break was enough for the Mexican side to beat the Brazilian giants, who claimed their second Copa Libertadores title last month but were subdued at the Education City Stadium.

Palmeiras goalkeeper Weverton was the standout performer of the first half with two superb saves, but he could do little to stop Gignac’s powerful spot-kick after Luan pulled back Carlos Gonzalez in the box.

Gignac’s winning strike made it three goals in two games for the former Marseille forward after his brace in Tigres’ 2-1 win over Ulsan Hyundai in the previous round and made his side the first CONCACAF team to reach the Club World Cup final.

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Tigres will likely face Bayern in Thursday’s final, with the European champions overwhelming favourites in their semi-final with Egypt’s Al Ahly on Monday.

“We are so proud of what we have done. We were looking at this task and we couldn’t believe it. We know that people are crying because of this victory. We want to dedicate this to all of them,” said Gonzalez.

“We are so happy to move onto the dream final. The Palmeiras goalkeeper was the hero with some great saves.”

Defeat will be disappointing for Palmeiras, who are Brazil’s most successful club with 10 national titles and were expected to be Bayern’s principal rivals but fell with a whimper at the first hurdle.