After a real epic that lasted a total of five hours, Chelsea confirmed their place in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup against Benfica with a 4-1 victory in Charlotte. We can say that there was enormous superiority, but we can't say that this qualification came easily, despite the huge gap on the scoreboard.
Chelsea were keen to take control of the match from the outset and piled on several real chances during the first half, with a fine performance again from Liam Delap, who created a great move for Cucurella to finish with space, but António Silva cleared the ball off the line and prevented the Blues from scoring on their best opportunity.
The same scenario continued in the second half when Chelea took advantage of Bruno Lage's team's very reactive attitude to press until they opened the scoring in the 65th minute, when Reece James surprised the opposition defense by shooting straight at goal from a free-kick, leaving goalkeeper Trubin ahead and with no chance of stopping the goal.
This disadvantage forced Benfica to attack more, but everything was controlled by the Blues, who played a very defensively sound game. However, when there were only five minutes to go, the threat of a thunderstorm brought the match to a halt. After almost two hours of stoppage time, Benfica got a penalty in injury time after VAR intervention, with Malo Gusto deflecting the ball with his hand in the box. Di Maria took the spot-kick and took the game to an unlikely extra-time.
Frustration and anger at the need to stay on the pitch were transformed into great intensity and absurd precision in finishing, as well as the sending off of Ginaluca Prestianni. In the 108th minute, Trubin spoke and Nkunku scored the Blues' second. Moisés Caicedo then flicked the ball on and Pedro Neto beat Trubin in a one-on-one. Finally, Dewsbury-Hall set off at speed with the field clear and scored the Blues' fourth.
Palmeiras seek revenge against Chelsea for 2023 title
Chelsea's opponents in the quarter-finals are Palmeiras, a team that has been working under coach Abel Ferreira for five years and whose main virtue is the ability to adapt their style of play to suit their opponents. In the round of 16, they won 1-0 in extra time against Botafogo, who failed to sustain their positive momentum after beating PSG.