On the night of June 24 at Bank of America (North Carolina), Bayern Munich - who were unbeaten 13 times against Benfica in all European competitions (10 wins, 3 draws) - lost 0-1 to the Portuguese team. The only scorer was Andreas Schjelderup with a joint kick in the penalty area in the 13th minute.
Having completed the goal of reaching the round of 16 10-0 against Auckland City and 2-1 against Boca Juniors early, coach Vincent Kompany strongly rotated the squad, pushing Joshua Kimmich, Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala to the bench. This decision caused the "Gray Tigers" many difficulties in the first half.
The high temperature of about 36 degrees Celsius at Bank of America Stadium affected Bayern's players' physical strength. Bayern's coaching staff even had to let some players sit in the dressing room to avoid the heat.
Bayern improved somewhat in the second half when Kimmich, Kane and Olise were brought on. In the 61st minute, Kimmich's long-range shot put the ball into the near corner, but the goal was disallowed because Harry Kane was offside and blocked the goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin's vision.
Immediately after that, Konrad Laimer in a substitute had a chance to face it but his cross-angle shot hit the post. In the remaining time, today's Sane and Aleksandar Pavlović both missed good situations in the penalty area.
On the opposite side, Benfica defended strongly to preserve the important victory. This result puts Benfica ahead of Group C with 7 points and will likely meet Chelsea in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, Bayern with 6 points is sure to enter the next round as the second place in Group B and will likely meet Flamengo - the top team in Group D.
In Group D, Flamengo have 6 points after two matches, 3 points more than Chelsea and Esperance Tunis. With a direct confrontation between Chelsea and Esperance in the final round, Flamengo has taken the top spot.
