Flamengo came back from behind and defeated Chelsea 3-1 in the Group D clash in the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup. Another day, and another South American club has shocked the European clubs in this tournament. This unexpected blow from Flamengo might cause problems for Chelsea in the later stages of the championship. If Flamengo win their last match against LAFC, they will top the group. Whereas, Chelsea will most probably face Bayern München if everything goes well.
An End-to-End First Half between Chelsea and Flamengo
The Blues had come to this match as the potential favourite, but the Brazilian club had other plans. From the beginning of the match, Flamengo began testing the Chelsea goalkeeper. Left-Back Ayrton hit the target with a long ranger but Chelsea goalkeeper Sanchez was ready. The plan was clear for Felipe Louis’s side. They kept on causing problems for the Chelsea goalkeeper. Seconds later, Chelsea’s latest arrival, Liam Delap, came close to giving the first lead to his team. But it was quite a decent save from the Flamengo goalkeeper, Agustin Rossi. Flamengo again found it easy to break the Chelsea defence. With eye-catching direct football, Gerson released De Arrascaeta. But his cross deflected from a ‘Flamengo Balloon’ and went straight to Sanchez. Chelsea found themselves lucky. In the meantime, Caicedo failed to keep his calm and conceded a silly yellow card. Minutes later, Chelsea finally found the joy. Flamengo were maintaining the highline from the very beginning against Chelsea, and that backfired. The Flamengo stoppers completely misjudged the long ball from Reece James. Portuguese winger Pedro Neto was clever enough. He followed the ball until the end and went past the two defenders. Neto wasn’t going to miss that clear chance and gave Chelsea the first lead with a composed finish. Flamengo did not hold back. The Brazilian side almost scored from the rebound of an Arrascaeta free kick. The pulsating first half ended with a very controversial foul on Enzo Fernandez in the Flamengo box.
Flamengo Dominance over Chelsea in the Second Half
The first big moment of the second half happened when Flamengo blundered a clear chance of equalising. Gerson and Plata both failed to score as Reece James’s vital deflection saved Chelsea for that moment. From this moment, it was all Flamengo throughout the second half. Minutes later, after failing to score, Plata was denied again by Sanchez. But Plata kept on being a constant headache for Chelsea. Flamengo finally equalised in the 60th minute. It was Plata again who provided the assist for Bruno Henrique. Flamengo didn’t let Chelsea defence to calm down as veteran Danilo found the net again for his club. With Danilo’s goal, Flamengo punished Chelsea again from the back post. With this lead, Flamengo found Chelsea on the back foot. Chelsea made it more difficult when Nicolas Jackson committed a nasty tackle on Ayrton. The referee didn’t hesitate to send him off. The only time Chelsea had a chance to level up but Enzo’s header didn’t have that quality. Flamengo sealed the three points in the 80th minute as Wallace Yan scored the third. It was already over for Maresca’s boys. Only Neto had a chance to score the brace, but his free kick hit his teammate Caicedo. That summed up the overall performance of Chelsea in the second half. The crowd erupted after the final whistle.
What’s Next for These Two Teams
As things stand, both clubs will qualify for the knockouts. But Chelsea might have gone lucky here. As Benfica shocked Bayern, Chelsea will face Benfica.
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As featured on Chelseanews.com
