Everything pointed to the fact that it was going to be a tight affair between Palmeiras and Tigres on Sunday. Surprisingly, or not, it played out just as expected.
Just as we predicted in the build-up to this game, André-Pierre Gignac was the man to watch out for and it is rather poetic he was the one who scored the winning goal.
Brazilian defender Rafael Carioca was also one of the standout names for Tigres as he controlled the midfield for the Mexican side and had a decent outing in general.
It was a game where Mexican side Tigres had the better chances and could have even scored two or three more goals if not for the brilliance of Weverton.
The first half ended in a stalemate but the deciding moment came in the second period. Tigres forward González controlled a good pass from Rodríguez in the box and was brought down by Luan. Gignac stepped up to score the resulting penalty and that was enough to see Tigres advance to the finals.
Luiz Adriano could have leveled matters late on but missed a decent chance that could have taken the game to extra time.
Palmeiras have now become the third Brazilian to suffer an early defeat at this stage of the competition, the other two being Atletico-MG in 2013 and Internacional in 2010.
Asides the chance to win a title, Palmeiras also missed out good cash prizes for the competition. FIFA gives out $ 4 million to the runner-up and $ 5 million to the winner of the competition.
However, Palmeiras still have a chance to win $2.5 million dollars, provided they win third place (about R $ 13.4 million). The fourth position will receive 2 million dollars (about R $ 10.7 million).
Palmeiras will be aiming to end the competition on a high when they play their third-place clash on Thursday. They will take on the winner between Al Ahly and Bayern Munich.
