Raphael Veiga and Dudu got the goals as Palmeiras eased past Al Ahly with a 2-0 win to book their place in the Club World Cup final.
The Brazilian side qualified straight through to the last four as Copa Libertadores holders, and Veiga’s first-half finish was their first ever goal at the tournament, having failed to score across two matches last season.
Shortly after the break, Dudu made it two with a powerful strike to put Palmeiras in control and they saw out the rest of the match comfortably, with Ayman Ashraf shown a straight red card late on for a rash challenge as Al Ahly were reduced to ten men.
The Blues face Al Hilal on Wednesday afternoon in the second semi-final.
It was a first-half largely lacking in quality or clear-cut chances in Abu Dhabi, but Palmeiras took the lead five minutes before the break.
Dudu sent a lovely flick through to Veiga, who slightly scuffed his finish but it was good enough to bobble past Ali Lotfi and into the far corner to break the deadlock.
The lead was doubled early in the second-half, as Dudu picked it up just inside the Al Ahly half, drove forward into space and rifled a superb finish into the top corner.
The Egyptians pushed forward in the remaining half an hour as they tried to get themselves back into the match. Ali Maaloul sent a free-kick over the bar, while Hamdy Fathi looped a header over the bar.
Mohamed Sherif thought he had halved the deficit, as he tapped-in from close range, but a VAR review showed he was well offside.
With ten minutes remaining, Ashraf, who on Sunday was part of the Egypt squad that lost in the Africa Cup of Nations final, was initially shown a yellow card for a poor tackle. That was changed to a red though, as the referee went to the monitor and returned to overturn his original decision.
Palmeiras can now enjoy Chelsea’s match with Al Hilal, and they will face the winner of the game on Saturday in the final.
