CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Palmeiras and Chelsea set up a quarter-final clash in the FIFA Club World Cup at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on July 5.
Substitute Paulinho scored an extra-time winner as Palmeiras edged Botafogo 1-0. Chelsea defeated Benfica 4-1 in extra time in a weather-disrupted last-16 clash.
Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all scored in extra time to send Premier League side Chelsea 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 Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina after a near two-hour weather delay, AFP reported.
Earlier, the Blues had been seemingly poised for victory after Reece James’ oppor-tunistic second-half free-kick had left them 1-0 up with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
But just as Chelsea began to think about their 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 dis-rupted by a weather warning.
When play resumed just under two hours later, a revitalised Benfica grabbed an in-jury-time equaliser after Chelsea substitute Malo Gusto was adjudged to have han-dled in the penalty area following an intervention by the Video Assistant Referee.
Benfica’s Argentine veteran Angel Di Maria stepped up to roll in an ice-cold penal-ty, 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 they chased an improbable victory.
But instead, it was Nkunku who fired Chelsea back in front, the French interna-tional bundling in from close range after Moises Caicedo’s low shot squirted un-derneath Benfica goalkeeper Antoliy Trubin.
As the game opened up, Benfica were increasingly vulnerable on the counter-attack 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.
Angel Di Maria converted the penalty to even the match.
After dominating most of the first half, the English club finally broke through when the 25-year-old James laced a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
The Portuguese side had a chance to tie it in the 78th minute, but Gianluca Pres-tianni sent a right-footed shot from the right side of the box just left of the goal. Prestianni held his head in his hands in agony after the miss.
In the closing minutes, players were pulled off the field and fans told to seek cover due to lightning strikes in the area, although it did not rain at the stadium.
Only a few thousand fans returned for the conclusion. Chelsea entered with a 3-0 record against Benfica and controlled the tempo in the first half with a 5-1 edge in shots on goal. But despite possessing the ball more than 60% of the time, the Blues headed to locker room at halftime in a scoreless tie.
Paulinho came on at the same time in the second half as Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira withdrew teenage sensation Estevao Willian, a move that appeared baffling at the time but ultimately proved inspired.
The tie had reached the 100th minute when Paulinho collected a pass by Richard Rios on the right flank and was afforded the time and space to come inside and into the box before slotting a low shot into the far corner.
That sparked wild celebrations among the Palmeiras fans who made up the vast majority of the 33,657 crowd inside Lincoln Financial Field, and the side from Sao Paulo held on to win the last-16 showdown despite having captain Gustavo Gomez sent off late on.
Winners of the Copa Libertadores in 2020 and 2021, Palmeiras will now stay in Philadelphia for a last-eight tie next Friday against Chelsea.
They had been the more dangerous side throughout this meeting of the top two in last year’s Brazilian league, with almost all of the chances falling the way of the men in green.
Rio de Janeiro side Botafogo pipped Palmeiras to the domestic title and also won the Copa Libertadores for the first time in their history in 2024.
They then lost their coach and several key players, but still managed to beat European champions Paris Saint-Germain during the group stage of the Club World Cup as they qualified for the knockout phase ahead of Atletico Madrid.
Nevertheless, Palmeiras was the more lively of the two teams in a game played in warm midday conditions in Philadelphia.
All eyes were on Estevao, the 18-year-old winger who will join Chelsea once the tournament is over and is seen as Brazil’s next big thing.
He found it hard to make an impact in what was, for long spells a disappointing game pockmarked by moments of quality.
Colombian midfielder Rios came close to scoring in first-half stoppage time with a thunderous shot from the edge of the box that was deflected onto the roof of the net.
