Chelsea to face Benfica in Club World Cup last-16 clash | OneFootball

Chelsea will take on Benfica in the Round of 16 at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Enzo Maresca’s side booked their place in the knockout stages with a comfortable 3-0 win over ES Tunis. Chelsea broke down the Tunisian side with two goals in first-half stoppage time.

Tosin Adarabioyo opened the scoring after heading home Enzo Fernandez’s free-kick, before Liam Delap netted his first goal for the Blues with a well-taken second. The £30m recruit held off the challenge of the first defender before beating a second and rolling in a composed finish.

Tyrique George wrapped up the win late on with a low strike from the edge of the area. Chelsea were much improved from their 3-1 defeat to Flamengo and progress as group runners-up to the Brazilian side.

It was a pleasing afternoon for Chelsea, who progressed comfortably despite resting key names in Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Reece James and Pedro Neto.

Benfica now await in the last 16, after the Portuguese outfit beat Bayern Munich 1-0 to finish above the German champions in Group C.

Speaking at full-time, Maresca discussed Chelsea’s next opponents and an impressive performance from summer signing Delap.

“I am thinking game by game,” Maresca said. “I am not thinking about the final. We know that Benfica is a top club with a top manager and top players. We are in the last 16 and the target for us is to be in the quarter-finals.

“We expected the process with Liam to be quite quick because he knows us and we know with him. We know each other very well. The process for him is quite quick. It is also because he is a very good player.”

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