Almost ten years after playing the Club World Cup for the first time, Chelsea confirmed on Wednesday (9) their favoritism against Al Hilal, beat the Saudi team 1-0 and advanced again to the final of the tournament, as happened in 2012. It wasn’t an easy game, with pressure from the Asian champions in the second half.
In the decision, the English team will face Palmeiras, in a duel in which both will be in search of the unprecedented title. In the first attempt, the London team was overcome by Corinthians. Palmeiras, on the other hand, fell in the semifinals, against Tigres, from Mexico, in the 2020 edition of the competition.
The final duel is scheduled for Saturday (12), also in Abu Dhabi, but at the Mohammed Bin Zayed stadium.
Against the Saudis, the team led by German Thomas Tuchel – who could not stay on the bench due to isolation after being diagnosed with Covid-19 – dominated the first half of the first half, when he opened the scoring with Lukaku, at 31 minutes, but suffered pressure at the return of the interval, when he slowed down.
After spending 45 minutes without threatening the opponent, Al Hilal began to demand difficult defenses from Kepa, responsible for blocking three good shots.
The Saudis explored, above all, the left side of Chelsea’s defense, which played with a line of three defenders: Christensen, Thiago Silva and Rudiger.
The trio began to have more work when the Italian-Brazilian Jorginho was replaced by Kanté, who, despite his good marking power, has a lower pass quality and game vision than shirt 5.
With difficulty to create clear chances as they did in the first half, the London team took danger in just one shot, when the German Havertz hit the post in an individual move from the left.
With ten minutes left to the end of regulation time, Al Hilal put on the field the Brazilian Michael, ex-Flamengo, but even so he couldn’t reach the tie.
Despite the pressure suffered, Chelsea held the victory by the minimum score and advanced to the decision.
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