Bayern Munich 2-0 Raja Casablanca
- Published
Bayern Munich capped a memorable 2013 by lifting the Club World Cup after a routine victory over Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca in Marrakech.
The German side added the trophy to the Champions League, Bundesliga, German Cup and Uefa Super Cup titles won in a silverware-laden year.
Raja hoped to become the first African side to win the tournament, but were brushed aside by Pep Guardiola's team.
Dante and Thiago Alcantara both scored before half-time to seal Bayern's win.
Bayern were overwhelming favourites to beat a Raja side who had exceeded all expectations to reach the final on home territory.
The Moroccan club, who were backed by a partisan crowd inside the Marrakach Stadium, were considered the weakest team in the tournament but dispelled that by recording wins against Auckland City, Monterrey and Ronaldinho's Atletico Mineiro.
In contrast, Guardiola's team only had to beat Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande to book their place in the showpiece, with the European representatives afforded entry at the semi-final stage of the competition.
Bayern swept aside the Chinese side in a comfortable 3-0 win and the signs looked ominous for Raja as the Bundesliga leaders raced into a two-goal lead with less than a quarter of the game gone.
Brazilian defender Dante opened the scoring when he fired past Raja goalkeeper Khalid Askri after fellow centre-back Jerome Boateng headed Xherdan Shaqiri's corner into his path.
Bayern continued to dictate proceedings and, after the busy Askri saved from Thomas Muller and David Alaba, doubled their advantage through Thiago. Left-back Alaba cut inside from the flank to pick out the Spain international, who accurately fired into the far corner from 15 yards.
After the break, Bayern slowed down the tempo as they looked to maintain possession without offering the same attacking threat that they did before half-time.
However, they almost added a third when Swiss winger Shaqiri hit the crossbar with a speculative shot.
Raja began to enjoy a greater share of the ball and were nearly rewarded with a foothold back in the match as a flurry of chances were spurned.
Two opportunities fell to captain Mohsine Moutouali, who shot over Manuel Neuer's crossbar and then failed to hit the target after the Germany international had saved Vivien Madibe's close-range effort.
But Bayern were never in danger of letting their advantage slip and saw out the game to win the Club World Cup for the first time.
You can view a photo gallery of the game on the BBC Sport website.
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