Brazilian side Fluminense pulled off a surprise 2-0 victory over Inter Milan to book their place in the Club World Cup quarter-finals, where they could meet European champions Manchester City.
German Cano gave Fluminense a dream start, stooping to head home in just the third minute and put the Rio de Janeiro club in front.
Despite intense pressure from Inter, it was substitute Hercules who sealed the win late on with a brilliant curling strike from the edge of the area—against the run of play in a tense final 25 minutes.
Inter’s talisman Lautaro Martínez had several chances to level the score, including a shot that struck the post in the closing stages.
Federico Dimarco also went close twice from free-kicks and had a tight-angle effort blocked, while Stefan de Vrij squandered the best opportunity of the match after a clever knockdown by Martínez.
The upset was witnessed by just 20,030 fans at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, far below its 74,867 capacity, in what was the final match hosted at the venue for this tournament.
Fluminense now join fellow Brazilian club Palmeiras in the quarter-finals. They will face the winner of Manchester City vs Al-Hilal at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium on Friday.
