Chelsea meet Benfica in Charlotte on Saturday aiming to reach the Club World Cup quarterfinals.
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Enzo Maresca’s side recovered well after their group stage defeat to Flamengo and Liam Delap has staked his claim to be the starter up top after he scored his first Chelsea goal in the 3-0 win against ES Tunis. The Blues haven’t quite been at their free-flowing best but now it’s time to crank things up a few notches and Maresca will hope the stars he rested in their final group stage game will be raring to go.
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Benfica beat Bayern Munich in their final group stage game to win Group C ahead of the German giants and the Portuguese powerhouse have impressed so far. They smashed Auckland City 6-0 and fought back from 2-0 down to draw against Boca Juniors as they’ve faced some tough tests so far in this competition. Benfica should not be underestimated.
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How to watch Benfica vs Chelsea live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 4pm ET Saturday (June 28)
Venue: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
TV Channel/Streaming:Stream every game live on DAZN, for free
Benfica team news, focus
Benfica have a lovely blend of youth and experience with Angel di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi playing key roles. They also have a host of talented young players such as Orkun Kokcu and Andreas Schjelderup, while Renato Sanches will pull the strings in midfield. Vangelis Pavlidis is a real threat up top and Benfica will punish any defensive mistakes from Chelsea.
Chelsea team news, focus
It’s now pretty clear what Enzo Maresca’s first-choice team is, but does he know it? It will be intriguing to see if Reece James starts at right back or midfield, or if Moises Caicedo gets the nod at right back. If Caicedo starts at right back then we can expect Romeo Lavia to start in midfield with Enzo Fernandez. Delap will start in attack with Nicolas Jackson still out suspended after his red card against Flamengo. Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto and Noni Madueke are all pushing to start underneath Delap and that is what should happen. Let’s see if Maresca has other ideas...
Benfica vs Chelsea prediction
This feels like the moment Chelsea need to kick on and their big players will step up. Benfica 1-3 Chelsea.