Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has high hopes for new recruit Liam Delap
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has no doubt Liam Delap is going to be a huge success at the club.
Delap scored his first goal since his £30million move from Ipswich as Chelsea beat Esperance Tunis 3-0 in Philadelphia to reach the last 16 of the Club World Cup.
It was the striker's second start in succession, having made his debut as a substitute in their opening Group D against Los Angeles FC.
With fellow forward Nicolas Jackson still suspended for Saturday's clash with Benfica in the second round, the 22-year-old has a chance to cement his place in the side.
Maresca told reporters: 'We know Liam is going to score goals for us, we don't have any doubts about that.
'Against Flamengo he had three clear chances to score goals, so that is a good feeling because it means he is there, he is in the right position and doing well.
'Unfortunately, he didn't score against Flamengo, but he scored here.
'We expect the process to be quite quick with Liam because we know him and he knows us in the way we want to play.'
Chelsea took command against the Tunisians with a quickfire double in first-half stoppage time.
Tosin Adarabioyo opened the scoring with a fine header and Delap followed up moments later by beating two challenges and rolling the ball past statuesque goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said.
Both goals were created by the impressive Enzo Fernandez.
Tyrique George scored a third in time added on at the end of the game with another shot Ben Said should have saved.
The result meant the Blues finished second in Group D behind Flamengo.
They will now head to Charlotte at the weekend to face Benfica, who beat one of the tournament favourites in Bayern Munich to top Group C.
'We know Benfica is a top club, with a top manager, and top players,' who made eight changes against Esperance largely due to the draining effects of playing and training in the heat.
'It's going to be tough but from 32 we are now into the round of 16 and our next target is go into the quarter-finals.'
The temperature in Philadelphia was 33C despite the game kicking off at 9pm local time.
Cole Palmer, Marc Cucurella, Pedro Neto, Moises Caicedo and Reece James were among the players benched.
Maresca said: 'It's impossible not to rotate players because playing every three days in these conditions means it's not possible for them to play every game.
'The ones that played were good and we've given some rest to many players. It's important to recover the energy and try to win the next game.'
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Times
32 minutes ago
- Times
Chelsea book place in quarter-finals — 4hrs and 38mins after kick-off
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Get through this lunacy and who knows where it ends. Benfica (4-2-3-1): A Trubin 8 — F Aursnes 6 (T Gouveia 86), A Silva 7, N Otamendi 5, S Dahl 5 — F Luis 6 (G Prestianni 70), L Barreiro 6, O Kokcu 6 (J Veloso 85) — V Pavlidis 6 (A Belotti 70), A Di Maria 7, A Schjelderup 5 (K Akturkoglu 46 6). Booked Kokcu, Luis, Pavlidis, Prestianni, Silva, Gouveia. Sent off Prestianni. Chelsea (4-2-2-2): R Sanchez 6 — R James 8 (M Gusto 80), B Badiashile 5 (T Adarabioyo 69), L Colwill 7 (A Anselmino 118), M Cucurella 7 — M Caicedo 8, R Lavia 6 (T Chalobah 85) — C Palmer 7, E Fernández 6 (K Dewsbury-Hall 81) — P Neto 7, L Delap 7 (C Nkunku 80). Booked M Caicedo. C Palmer.
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
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Nkunku extra-time goal sees Chelsea through to Club Word Cup last eight after four-hour match
The never-ending season had the never-ending game. This was Chelsea's 61st game of a gruelling campaign and they emerged victorious only after the competing forces of the erratic American weather and the pedantic interference of VAR dragged it into extra-time at the Bank of America Stadium. There cannot have been a weirder denouement to a football match. There was a delay lasting close to two hours because of a thunderstorm, a contentious equalising penalty from Benfica after play resumed, a red card and, perhaps least expected of all, a winning goal from Christopher Nkunku to send Chelsea through to the last eight of the Club World Cup. They all streamed off Chelsea's bench when the France forward stuck the ball into the net in the 108th minute. Nkunku, who is up for sale after falling from favour, had put Enzo Maresca's side 2-1 up after pouncing when Moises Caicedo's shot squirmed from Anatoliy Trubin's grasp. 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Reuters
38 minutes ago
- Reuters
Extra time goals see Chelsea down 10-man Benfica to advance to quarters
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, June 29 (Reuters) - Chelsea scored three times in the second period of extra-time to hand 10-man Benfica a 4-1 defeat in Charlotte in their weather-affected last 16 Club World Cup clash on Saturday as the English side set up a quarter-final meeting with Brazil's Palmeiras. Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored in a nine minute spell to take Enzo Maresca's side through after the teams had been forced off the pitch for almost two hours due to a lightning storm. Chelsea had taken the lead through Reece James in the 64th minute while Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni was sent off two minutes into injury time. But Angel di Maria scored from the penalty spot three minutes later to salvage a draw for the Portuguese side, taking the game into extra-time from where Chelsea eventually prevailed to set up their meeting with Palmeiras on Friday.
