Chelsea have qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup following a spirited round of 16 performance against Benfica, MySportDab reports.
The Blues crossed swords with the Portuguese giants at the Bank of America Stadium for an eagerly awaited tie in North Carolina.
It was a ding-dong start to proceedings but Chelsea held a commanding sway over proceedings. They dominated the game, winning 63% of possession and firing a total of 22 shots with 12 on target.
Benfica managed eight attempts with only five on target, underscoring their downbeat and underwhelming performance in the match.
However, they were still able to hold off the Premier League contingents throughout the first half of the game, no thanks to scores of big chances wasted by Londoners.
After a largely dominant showing failed to yield a result for the Blues in the first 45, they finally found the back of the net 19 minutes into the restart, thanks to Reece James’ stunning goal.
The England wing-back scored a sensational free-kick to hand the Blues a deserved lead in the 64th minute.
Going down by a lone goal, Benfica stepped up their game to find the equaliser but couldn’t with Chelsea crossing the regulation with the narrow lead and closing in on a place in the last four.
However, a dramatic turn of events in stoppage time had Benfica finally nailed home the equalizer. Angel Di Maria scored at the last touch of the game in the 95th minute from the spot to level the score.
This equaliser came even after the Portuguese side were down to 10 men due to a red card for Prestianni in the 92nd minute.
With Di Maria’s leveller, the game was dragged into extra time where Chelsea counted on their numerical advantage to put the opponents to the rout.
Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring for the Blues in the 108th minute to return the team to the lead before quickfire double in the 117th and 118th minute by Pedro Neto and Kenan Drewbury-Hall sealed a deserved 4-1 victory for Enzo Maresca’s men.
They will now take on Brazilian side Palmeiras in the quarter-finals in their next fixture.
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