Match summary
The South American champions bought three new players specifically for the game, and Cruzeiro initially created havoc in the Germans' disorganised midfield and defensive ranks. Keeper Stefan Klos performed heroics to prevent his side conceding an early goal, reacting superbly to deny Palacios (2), Elivelton (6) and Donizete (12). But once the early Brazilian storm had blown out, Dortmund began to assert themselves in response to the outstanding Paulo Sousa's subtle promptings. Möller and Herrlich had chances midway through the half before Zorc exploited a momentary lapse in the Brazilian defence to hand his side the lead on the half-hour. The crowd saw a similar pattern of events in the second period as Belo Horizonte initially threatened to equalise, only for Dortmund to resist with a mixture of good fortune and grit. With the South Americans committed to attack, Heiko Herrlich settled the issue with Dortmund's second five minutes from time.

Key Player
"The best Brazilian was playing for us today," midfielder Andreas Möller declared afterwards. Indeed, Julio Cesar Silva turned in a world-class display at the heart of the Borussia defence, clearly rising to the prestige and value traditionally attached to the World Club Cup title in South America. Cruzeiro's highly skilled strike force poured forward time and time again, but in a show of steely resolve Cesar withstood everything his opponents could throw at him to preserve Dortmund's clean sheet.

Coach
Ottmar Hitzfeld stepped down as head coach after winning the Champions League with Borussia, and was replaced for the 1997-98 campaign by Nevio Scala. The Toyota Cup final took place in the new season, so Scala was in charge for the showdown in Tokyo. The trophy was to be his first and only honour with the club as Scala and Borussia parted company after just one season and a 10th-place finish.


Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte (H-T: 1-0)
Venue: Tokyo
Stadium: National Stadium,
2 December 1997
Goals: Michael Zorc, Heiko Herrlich.
BVB:
Klos,Feiersinger,Reuter, Cesar,Freund, Sousa, Heinrich, Möller, Zorc (Kirovski), Herrlich, Chapuisat (Decheiver).
Cruzeiro:
Dida, Vítor, Joao Carlos, Goncalves, Eliverton, Fabinho, Cleison, Roberto Palacios (Marcelo), Ricardinho, Bebeto, Donizete.