PHILADELPHIA: Chelsea beat Benfica in a game which went on for close to five hours at the Club World Cup on Saturday to set up a quarter-final showdown with Brazilian side Palmeiras at the tournament in the United States.
The London club were grateful to extra-time goals by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to give them a 4-1 victory over Benfica.
Their late burst of scoring settled a last-16 tie which took four hours, 39 minutes to complete at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina after a near two-hour weather delay.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was left satisfied with his team’s victory but slammed the delay that turned the tie into a near five-hour marathon.
“I think it’s a joke, it’s not football,” Maresca said.
“For 85 minutes we were in control of the game. We created enough chances to win the game. Then after the break, the game changed — for me personally, it’s not football.”
Earlier, Chelsea had been seemingly poised for victory after Reece James’ opportunistic second-half free-kick had left them 1-0 up with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
But just as Chelsea began to think about their quarter-final assignment, the arrival of a storm over Charlotte triggered local safety protocols which required the game to be halted.
It marked the sixth occasion during the Club World Cup that a game has been disrupted by a weather warning.
When play resumed just under two hours later, a revitalized Benfica grabbed an injury-time equalizer after Chelsea substitute Malo Gusto was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area following an intervention by the Video Assistant Referee.
Benfica’s Argentine veteran Angel Di Maria stepped up to roll in an ice-cold penalty, sending the game into extra time.
An end-to-end first half of extra time saw Benfica, reduced to 10 men following Gianluca Prestianni’s second yellow card at the end of regulation, threaten to take the lead as they chased an improbable victory.
But instead it was Nkunku who fired Chelsea back in front, the French international bundling in from close range after Moises Caicedo’s low shot squirted underneath Benfica goalkeeper Antoliy Trubin.
As the game opened up, Benfica were increasingly vulnerable on the counter-attack and Chelsea pounced.
Neto made it 3-1 with a nerveless finish after going clean through on goal in the 114th minute, and three minutes later Dewsbury-Hall completed the rout to send Chelsea through to the last eight.
They will now return to Philadelphia, where they played two games in the group stage, to play Palmeiras in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The Brazilian club were grateful to an extra-time winner by substitute Paulinho as they edged domestic rivals Botafogo 1-0 in a battle of attrition earlier Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
The winger came on at the same time in the second half as Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira withdrew teenage sensation Estevao Willian, a move that appeared baffling in the moment but ultimately proved inspired.
The tie had reached the 100th minute without a goal when Paulinho collected a pass by Richard Rios on the right flank and was afforded the time and space to come inside into the box before slotting a low shot into the far corner.
That sparked wild celebrations among the Palmeiras fans who made up the vast majority of the 33,657 crowd, and the side from Sao Paulo held on to win the tie despite having captain Gustavo Gomez sent off late on.
“That is why he came, so he could play for long enough to decide a game. He is going to have to stop again after the tournament,” Ferreira said of Paulinho, who has struggled with injury since signing for Palmeiras at the start of the year.
Winners of the Copa Libertadores in 2020 and 2021, Palmeiras will now hope to match the feat of their Brazilian rivals Flamengo, who defeated Chelsea during the group stage.
The last-16 action continues on Sunday when European champions Paris Saint-Germain take on Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in Atlanta. Later on Bayern Munich face Flamengo in Miami.
Chelsea overcome Club World Cup weather delay, set up Palmeiras quarter-final
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Chelsea overcome Club World Cup weather delay, set up Palmeiras quarter-final
- The London club were grateful to extra-time goals by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to give them a 4-1 victory over Benfica
Own goal enough for Al-Ahli as Matchday 24 win keeps pressure on Al-Nassr
- Al-Ahli eke out 1-0 win over Al-Riyadh to keep pressure on Al-Nassr
- Milan Borjan own goal separated the sides at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium
RIYADH: Matchday 24 of the Saudi Pro League kicked off on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the delayed Matchday 10. With the FIFA Arab Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and FIFA World Cup sandwiching the 2025/26 campaign, resting periods have been few and far between outside the international breaks.
With fixtures coming thick and fast, Al-Ahli opted to rest Riyad Mahrez and Enzo Millot for their clash with Al-Riyadh in the capital. Ramadan has further challenged the league schedule, with Matthias Jaissle’s side only arriving in Riyadh at 5:30pm — just hours before kick-off.
With their previous outing against Damac still dominating conversation, Jaissle was keen to ensure his players did not fall into the same trap — namely, being caught off guard by an opponent’s unexpectedly proactive style.
To his relief, Al-Ahli were largely in control this time. Yet the absence of Mahrez limited their creative spark. Relying heavily on Wenderson Galeno down the left, Al-Riyadh did well to crowd the Brazilian and deny him space to operate.
The bane of any expansive side is a compact 5-4-1, and that is precisely how Al-Riyadh’s recently appointed Brazilian manager Mauricio Dulac set his team up. A long-time assistant to former Al-Riyadh coach Odair Hellmann, this marks Dulac’s first managerial role.
Al-Ahli’s attacking routes were severely restricted throughout the first half. Al-Riyadh denied them the opportunity to press high, Mahrez’s trademark diagonals were absent, and finding Ivan Toney in the six-yard box proved a difficult task.
On the rare occasions the visitors broke the defensive line, Milan Borjan stood firm in goal — there was no getting past the Canadian.
That was until first-half stoppage time. Al-Ahli had one more weapon in their arsenal: set-pieces. A lofted delivery from Galeno’s free-kick met the head of Roger Ibañez, who nodded the ball towards goal. Borjan pushed it away, but it was too late — the ball crossed the line.
VAR intervened within seconds. Ibañez was a shoulder offside, and the opener was chalked off. It was a notable twist, particulary as the simultaneous fixture between Al-Fateh and Damac in Al-Ahsa featured a celebration aimed squarely at Al-Ahli and VAR.
Earlier in the week, Damac equalised late against Al-Ahli via Yakou Méïté, only for the goal to be overturned. Méïté reacted angrily and lashed out at referees, but Al-Ahli escaped with the three points. Méïté followed up with a goal against Al-Fateh, and celebrated by mimicking the referee’s VAR signal.
Back in Riyadh, Al-Ahli returned for the second half with renewed intensity. Zakaria Hawsawi grew more adventurous from left-back, threading lofted balls over the Al-Riyadh defence.
In the 53rd minute, he found Toney behind the last defender, but the Englishman’s volley was adeptly saved by Borjan. Five minutes later, Galeno latched onto Hawsawi’s cross and thought he had broken the deadlock — only for the linesman’s flag to rise once again.
Al-Ahli pushed, but as time ticked away, it seemed the coveted winner would elude them. However, once again, set pieces proved decisive.
In the 75th minute, a corner from Saleh Abu Al-Shamat was parried by Borjan, only for his effort to be bundled into his own net, sending the travelling supporters into a frenzy.
After last week’s scare, Al-Ahli knew they had to finish the job. Cue Ibañez, who surged forward from deep before slipping the ball through to Toney to seal the game with what would have been his 24th goal of the season. The run itself deserved a goal, but Toney was flagged inches offside.
Despite another difficult outing, Al-Ahli did enough to secure a clean sheet and grind out a 1-0 victory to move top on 59 points — one ahead of Al-Nassr, who are yet to play this weekend.
Elsewhere, Méïté’s equaliser was later cancelled out by a 77th-minute Mourad Batna penalty, in a match that saw fans commemorate him for surpassing 100 goal contributions with Al-Fateh.
Batna had earlier missed from the spot to the frustation of the home fans, but Al-Fateh’s undefeated streak against Damac at home remains intact as the encounter ended 1-1.
Saudi Pro League action resumes on Friday, with Al-Hazem hosting Al-Ettifaq, Al-Ittihad welcoming Al-Khaleej, and one of Riyadh’s top derbies in Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal. All games kick-off at 10:00pm, in the league’s unified Ramadan schedule.
