Chelsea downs Benfica to reach Club World Cup quarters after weather chaos
Chelsea defeated Benfica 4-1 in extra time in a chaotic weather-disrupted last-16 clash to book their place in the Club World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored in extra time to send Premier League side into a quarterfinal clash against Brazil's Palmeiras.
Chelsea's late burst of scoring settled a game that took four hours, 39 minutes to complete at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, 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 tilt 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 it 1-0 up with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
But just as Chelsea began to think about a quarterfinal 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.
"If you are already suspending, six, seven, eight games it probably means there is something that is not working well," Maresca said. "Because in a football game, it's not normal to suspend the game."
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 (VAR).
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 it chased an improbable victory.
But instead it was Nkunku who fired Chelsea back in front, with 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 was increasingly vulnerable on the counterattack 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.
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