Who: Chelsea vs. Benfica
What: FIFA Club World Cup round of 16
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
When: Saturday, June 28 at 4pm (21:00 GMT)
How to follow: From 1pm local time (18:00 GMT) until our live text commentary stream, we’ll have all the news coverage on Al Jazeera Sport.
Chelsea and Benfica square off in the second round of 16 tie at the FIFA Club World Cup, which is arguably a match straight out of the UEFA Champions League.
The clubs have won nine titles between them, with Benfica, the Portuguese giant, winning seven of Europe’s top club competition.
Following their recent group stage blunders, Al Jazeera Sport anticipates the game, which will cause the English club a significant headache.
What irritates Chelsea ahead of the Benfica tie?
After finishing second in their group, Chelsea are dealing with logistical problems at the World Cup, making it necessary to travel to Charlotte for their final 16 game instead of staying in Miami, where the organization anticipated to be based for the knockout stages.
According to a source, the West Londoners were presuming they would win Group D and play their round-of-16 game at Hard Rock Stadium when making travel arrangements, lodging, and training.
The club still intends to return to its Miami base after the game, which will add more miles to an already hectic schedule because of the detour to Charlotte.
Chelsea’s fate in the group stage
Los Angeles’ 2-0 victory gave The Blue a 2-0 start to their Club World Cup campaign. Chelsea finished second in the group stage after falling to Brazil’s Flamengo 3-1, but they did so 3-0 over Esperance Tunis in Philadelphia in their final game.
What was Benfica’s performance in the group stage?
Boca Juniors’ opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup ended Benfica 2-2 with. The Lisbon-based club then defeated Germany’s Bayern Munich 1-0 and New Zealand’s Auckland City 6-0 in their final two games.
In the quarter-finals, who will play Chelsea or Benfica?
The winner of Saturday’s tie will face Palmeiras and Botafogo, who is the only team from Brazil, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
The #FIFACWC Round of 16 Matches. 🔢 pic. twitter.com/PSqvYGZW18
Chelsea hasn’t won a club world cup before.
Yes . Chelsea has won the Club World Cup once, twice lifting the trophy from the UEFA Champions League twice in Europe.
With a 2-1 victory over Palmeiras from Brazil, the Blues won the title in 2021.
The Blues scored the opener with Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz scoring the winner in extra time.
What last time did Chelsea and Benfica meet?
The Blues won the UEFA Europa League game with a 2-1 victory over the Blues in the competition.
Oscar Cardozo scored from the spot in the 69th minute to give the Blues the lead at the hour mark.
With a Chelsea winner in the 90th minute, Branislav Ivanovic put an end to the conflict.
news from the Chelsea team
Wesley Fofana has returned to the team for the tournament, but the defender is still recovering from a long-term thigh injury and will miss the game once more.
In the match against Flamengo, striker Nicolas Jackson receives the second and final game of a two-game suspension for a straight red card.
Reece James, Levi Colwill, and Marc Cucurella are all expected to make an appearance.
News from the Benfica team
Florentino Luis is expected to make a comeback after missing the previous two games due to a shoulder injury, but Alexander Bah and Manu Silva have been a long time players.
Andrea Belotti’s suspension is lifted.
Possible starting lineup for Benfica:
Trubin, Aursnes, Silva, Otamendi, Carreras, Barreiro, Sanches, Di Maria, Prestianni, Schjelderup, Pavlidis, and others
Chelsea’s potential starting lineup:
Sanchez, James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Neto, Palmer, Madueke, Delap,
Head-to-head
Chelsea has won each of the three meetings between the two teams, with Chelsea taking home the win.
The Blues also won both Champions League matches in 2011 and 2012 in addition to their success in the Europa League against Benfica.
Form manuals
Benfica performance (in all competitions):
D-L-D-W-W
(All competitions): Chelsea form
W-W-W-L-W
Source: Aljazeera
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