Chelsea moved into the Club World Cup quarter-finals with a remarkable extra-time win over Benfica which featured a two-hour weather delay at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
With Enzo Maresca’s side leading 1-0 thanks to Reece James’ clever free-kick, play was suspended in the 86th minute due to lightning in the vicinity of the sparsely-attended stadium.
When play finally resumed two hours later, Benfica took the contest to extra-time as Angel Di Maria converted his fourth penalty of the tournament in the fifth minute of stoppage time after Malo Gusto was deemed to have handled in the box following a VAR check.
Players walk off the field at the Bank of America Stadium following the suspension of play
An extraordinary game took another twist as Benfica substitute Gianluca Prestianni was sent off at the start of extra time for a second yellow card, allowing Chelsea to finally seize control of the tie.
Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku celebrates his goal
Christopher Nkunku put Chelsea back in front when he bundled home from close-range in the 108th minute, and they added further breakaway goals from Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to set up a quarter-final against Palmeiras on Saturday.
The weather suspension meant there were four and a half hours between kick-off and the final whistle and saw Chelsea and Benfica’s players made to leave the pitch as fans were asked to seek cover in the stadium’s concourses.
The interruption made it the sixth game at the Club World Cup to see a weather-related delay, with Benfica experiencing it for the second time after a two-hour delay affected their group stage win over Aukland City in Orlando.
Chelsea dominated the game overall and would have taken the lead earlier if not for some smart saves by Anatoliy Trubin, who denied Neto, Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella in normal time.
Benfica’s Angel Di Maria added his fourth penalty goal of the tournament
Cucurella also had an effort cleared off the line by Benfica centre-back Antonio Silva but Chelsea finally made the breakthrough thanks to quick-thinking from James after he spotted Trubin out of position with his free-kick from wide on the left.
That goal seemed to have put Chelsea on the brink of victory, with Benfica carrying little threat as an attacking force, although their penalty after the weather suspension threatened to turn the game on its head before the red card and Chelsea’s late flurry.
Enzo Maresca started with new signing Liam Delap up front as Nicolas Jackson served the second game of his suspension following his red card against Flamengo. There was also news of Chelsea reaching an agreement to sign winger Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund before the game.
Chelsea’s Pedro Neto scored Chelsea’s third
But all that was overshadowed by another weather-enforced suspension which raises more questions of the Club World Cup’s organisation on the day that former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp described it as the “worst idea ever implemented in football”.
In the end, though, it was clear that Chelsea cherished their victory, with Nkunku’s goal, and those of Neto and Dewsbury-Hall, sparking wild celebrations as they came through a gruelling test to keep their trophy hopes alive.
Who do Chelsea play next?
Chelsea will face Brazilian side Palmeiras in the last eight, kicking off at 2am on Saturday at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
