In the Enzo Fernández “derby”, the Argentinian’s current club were the ones looking to inflict pain on his former side. All with the midfielder’s help, aided by Romeo Lavia and Moisés Caicedo playing right behind him to shield Chelsea from any imminent threat posed by veteran Ángel Di María and youngster Andreas Schjelderup.
The Blues nearly scored at the 20-minute mark with Marc Cucurella. However with defender António Silva working as a goalpost to clear the ball off the line, it was never going in.
Chelsea didn’t stop pushing towards Benfica’s defence in the second half, with the Portuguese side somehow even more clueless as to how they could counter our efforts. And goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, who looked unbeatable in the first half, finally lost it with Reece James’ amazing free kick from a very tight angle.
Benfica tried to mount a comeback to find at least a tying goal to send the match into extra time. It looked as if they couldn’t do it until they were rewarded a penalty spot kick from a completely unintentional Malo Gusto handball during an aerial play in our box right after a two-hour weather delay.
Another 30 minutes of play on the horizon. And it took Benfica only two minutes to lose a player to a double yellow card, with Prestianni sent to the showers after fouling Levi Colwill near the area. The result was a quick succession of goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall once Benfica’s backline, led by 37-year-old Nicolas Otamendi, started to show signs of tiredness.
Carefree!
* Romeo Lavia and Moisés Caicedo start in midfield, while captain Reece James plays right-back.
* António Silva and Trubin combining to make our lives really difficult in the first half.
* In an era of very few dead ball specialists, having a great defender such as Reece James taking these reigns for the Blues is a privilege.
* A good example of how having young blood facing veterans can actually yield good results if we’re patient with our own selves.
* Next up: Palmeiras in the Club World Cup quarter-final.
* KTBFFH!
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