Fifa Club World Cup: Has Gianni Infantino’s new format been a success?

Purely in football terms, the tournament could be considered a success.

The group stages were a slow burner, with mismatched games like Bayern Munich 10-0 Auckland City.

There have been plenty of dramatic games and surprising scorelines – and an average of more than three goals per game.

Manchester City were knocked out 4-3 in extra time by Al-Hilal. Benfica took Chelsea to extra time thanks to a 95th-minute penalty – after a two-hour weather delay – before the Blues won 4-1.

Chelsea scored a late winner in the quarter-final against Palmeiras, with Estevao Willian, who joins them after the competition, netting against his soon-to-be team-mates.

Lionel Messi scored a free-kick, amateur side Auckland City picked up a point against Boca Juniors, having lost their first two games by a total of 16-0, and there have been games with scorelines of 4-4, 4-3, 4-2 and 5-2.

PSG, who have been sensational at times, beat Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Inter Miami 4-0.

PSG beat Bayern 2-0 despite having nine men – and there were three stoppage-time goals and a red card as Real beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2.

“We saw a few games at the start of the tournament which were a bit of a mismatch, but after that all the games have been competitive,” said Brown.

“The mixture of cultures has been amazing. We’ve seen some different styles of play but a lot of quality everywhere.

“The Brazilian teams in particular contributed to that in a massive way. They set the standard in matches, put pressure on European teams and made them respond.

“What we do have to understand is that the European teams had not hit their stride when the tournament started because they’d had a bit of a rest first [after the end of their domestic seasons].”