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By DANIEL DAVIS and KIERAN GILL AT BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM Updated: 08: 58 AEST, 29 June 2025 52 View comments Follow Mail Sport's live blog of Benfica against Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup as the Blues look to progress to the quarter-finals.    By Dan Davis Imagine if, after all this, Benfica get a last-minute equaliser and the game goes to extra-time and then penalties. Surely not. .. Either way, I'll be tucked up in bed. I'm not cut out for that. By Dan Davis I have to say, this is a masterclass in improvisation from DAZN. It's been about 50 minutes since the players returned to their dressing rooms, and there's only so much the panel can talk about. Fair play to them. It's a tough job. I couldn't do it. Apparently, we could be delayed by another half-hour because there is still lightning in the area. This is. .. frustrating. But, to be fair, those southern storms are serious business. By Dan Davis The stadium is almost completely empty. It's pretty eerie. Just a reminder, maddeningly, there are just four minutes left to play. I can understand why those Chelsea players were so annoyed. By Kieran Gill At Bank Of America Stadium By Dan Davis Never thought I'd catch myself having a look at weather radars for North Carolina, especially on a Saturday night, but there we go. By Dan Davis I know safety has to come first, but come on. .. do we really need a 20-minute warm-up to play four minutes of football? Imagine if this happened at the World Cup next year as well. Rumours on the ground are that there has been more lightning, and that therefore the clock has been reset. Add on another 30 minutes. That would mean we won't get underway until after midnight. By Dan Davis There have been lightning flashes but I don't think they touched the ground, which is good news. The aim is to restart play at 11. 45pm BST. Warm-ups (again) would take place in a few minutes in that case. By Dan Davis We'll also bring you the latest updates in this breaking story. By Dan Davis I might be very wrong because there's no official confirmation, but if there hasn't been any lightning since the stoppage, we should be back underway in around 10/15 minutes. Maybe. By Dan Davis By Dan Davis Right. This will be a minimum 30-minute delay due to lightning. Every new lightning strike inside a 10-mile radius will then reset the clock, and the game can't resume until a full half hour has passed without any lightning. It might be time to put the kettle on again. By Dan Davis I've just seen FIFA's protocol for situations like this. Give me a second and I'll break it all down. By Dan Davis I wish I could give you an estimated timeframe for when we'll get back underway, but I have no idea. Some of these delays can last hours. It took two hours for Benfica's victory against Auckland City to resume. Not ideal, eh? Some of us have places to be. .. By Dan Davis Chelsea really weren't happy with that decision. There are just four minutes of normal time remaining, and they were so close to victory. By Dan Davis Oooo, here's an unexpected twist. The black clouds are rolling in overhead and the referee has been advised to take the players back into the tunnel. Safety comes first, of course. Supporters have also been asked to head inside. By Dan Davis Joao Veloso and Tiago Gouveia are on for Benfica. By Dan Davis Orkun Kokcu is the latest to have been booked for a foul. Cole Palmer knocked in the free-kick but the referee awarded a free-kick. The attendance has been revealed: 25, 929. This stadium can hold around 75, 000. Hmmmm. By Dan Davis It's a triple change for Chelsea. Christopher Nkunku, Malo Gusto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are on. By Dan Davis Liam Delap rounded the goalkeeper but the offside flag went up. It did look pretty clear-cut, in fairness. A decent run took him through the heart of Benfica's high backline, but he mistimed it by a matter of seconds. By Dan Davis That was the opening for Benfica - but they wasted it. Angel di Maria released Fredrik Aursnes and he pulled the ball back for Gianluca Prestianni, who could only drag his strike wide. Chelsea were carved open for a second there. By Dan Davis Blimey. Benfica are pushing up very high now. Gianluca Prestianni got to the byline on the left and fizzed in a cross, but the ball struck the hapless Andrea Belotti. There wasn't much he could do with that type of service. By Dan Davis We're up and running again after our final scheduled drinks break. Benfica really need to step it up but when they have thrown players forward, they've left themselves exposed at the back. There was an example of that before the pause in play when Cole Palmer dragged his strike just wide of the far post. It's a real dilemma for Bruno Lage. By Dan Davis Tosin Adarabioyo replaced Benoit Badiashile at centre back. Benfica also turned to their bench. Andrea Belotti and Gianluca Prestianni are on. By Dan Davis Benoit Badiashile has been wobbly tonight. Vangelis Pavlidis got the wrong side of the defender, who almost brought him down in the box, before the danger was shut out. Badiashile then went down and had to be taken off. By Dan Davis Angel di Maria drifted in a fine cross from a free-kick and Nicolas Otamendi got there on the far side before cracking one over. He was offside anyway. By Dan Davis There you go, then. Chelsea are closing in on a quarter-final date with destiny against Palmeiras. You'd fancy them to win that one, too. By Dan Davis CHELSEA TAKE THE LEAD! That was absolutely inch-perfect from Reece James, and it had to be. The veteran full back took charge of the free-kick out on the right-hand side, around 25 yards from goal, and he bent one inside the near post. Anatoliy Trubin scampered across but couldn't get close to it. Goalkeeper error or moment of genius? The Blues won't care one bit. By Dan Davis Another booking, this time for Florentino Luis. By Dan Davis Moises Caicedo has been cautioned and would miss the quarter-final if Chelsea get there. That's a big blow for Enzo Maresca. By Dan Davis Oooooo. That was a heart-in-mouth moment for Robert Sanchez. He could have spent most of this game in a deck chair, but a rare foray forward from Benfica almost led to a comical opener. The goalkeeper was nearly caught out at his near post by a cross, but he got his body behind it and only just avoided carrying it over the line. Cool as a cucumber. By Dan Davis Benfica have been second to absolutely everything. Enzo Maresca clearly told his players to press higher and harder in the second half. Chelsea are circulating the ball well and look so dangerous. It's just the final touch which has let them down so far. Still, plenty of time left. By Dan Davis Chelsea won a corner which was floated in by Pedro Neto, but Benoit Badiashile could only guide his header over the top. By Dan Davis There's the first booking of the game. Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis was flashed a yellow card after fouling Enzo Fernandes. He would miss the quarter-final if Benfica get there. By Dan Davis Moises Caicedo took a touch out of his body around 30 yards from goal and tried his luck, but his ambitious drive was wide. I would have hit that, too, to be fair to him. By Dan Davis My word. How did that not go in? Cole Palmer was released down the left-hand side and he fizzed in a devilish cross that Liam Delap looked destined to touch home. That was until Nicolas Otamendi got there first, hacking away a hurried clearance which bounced off his leg and span over the crossbar. If he left that, it's a simple finish for Delap. By Dan Davis PEEEEP! Off we go again in Charlotte. I have to say, it's a pretty sparse crowd tonight. Very underwhelming. By the way, Benfica made a change during the half-time break. Kerem Akturkoglu is on for Andreas Schjelderup. By Dan Davis As a reminder, the winner of this one will face Palmeiras in the quarter-finals. They got the better of fellow Brazilian side Botafogo earlier. The players are making their way back out. By Dan Davis I've seen a few replays of the challenge involving Moises Caicedo just before the break. He's so lucky he didn't sustain serious damage. Both players weren't backing out and their legs smacked together. It's a grim one but fortunately, everyone seems to be OK. By Dan Davis Chelsea had five shots on target in that first half but just couldn't get the better of Anatoliy Trubin, Ukraine's No 1. Most of their chances came through Marc Cucurella, the left back. Cucurella, incidentally, had six touches in the Benfica penalty area. That was as many as Liam Delap and Cole Palmer combined. By Dan Davis I really enjoyed that, but somehow we haven't had a goal. Anatoliy Trubin has been a brick wall between the sticks for Benfica and Marc Cucurella's effort was headed off the line by Antonio Silva. At the other end, Robert Sanchez has been a mere spectator. Plenty to be pleased about for Enzo Maresca and his players. By Dan Davis Cole Palmer managed to hold off a couple of defenders and try his luck from a tight angle, with his strike deflected out for a corner. The set piece was whipped in but ultimately came to nothing. By Dan Davis Ouch. Moises Caicedo went into a strong challenge and came out worse for wear. He went down and required treatment. The midfielder was holding his knee but thankfully was able to get back to his feet and make his way to the edge of the pitch. He's OK to continue. By Dan Davis The stadium announcer's voice boomed out around the stadium, revealing there will be three additional minutes. Andreas Schjelderup got away down the left-hand side and saw an effort blocked by Reece James, who stayed right with him. By Dan Davis Just a couple of minutes, plus stoppage time, before the break now. Benfica are sat in their solid banks and are hanging on for the whistle. This half has rocketed by. By Kieran Gill At Bank Of America Stadium By Dan Davis Benfica are hanging on but it feels like Chelsea are inadvertently playing with their dinner. They just can't put the ball in the net. Surely they'll find a breakthrough sooner rather than later. They're playing some really superb football. By Dan Davis I don't really know how Chelsea aren't ahead. Big chance wasted. Romeo Lavia turned sharply and smuggled Marc Cucurella through on this near side. The full back had just the goalkeeper to beat. That's proving a mean task, however, and again, Anatoliy Trubin came out on top, diverting the strike away with a big, strong arm. What a tournament he's having. By Dan Davis Chelsea came alive from the restart through Cole Palmer, but Anatoliy Trubin was equal to his low effort, which skidded across the turf. By Dan Davis I agree with Kieran. There has been some silky stuff so far. We're back underway in Charlotte, where it's still very warm. By Kieran Gill At Bank Of America Stadium By Dan Davis We've reached our first scheduled drinks break of the evening. Enzo Maresca is using the brief pause to dish out instructions, but he will surely be happy with the performance so far. Chelsea have been the better side and should really be ahead. By Dan Davis I actually think Angel di Maria went for goal there. He was about 40 yards out, so that was ambitious to say the least. Still, it was also Benfica's first effort of the game. Anyway, on we go. Reece James crossed for Marc Cucurella, the full back on the opposite side, but the Spaniard couldn't get there. By Dan Davis Benfica had the chance to cause a bit of havoc at the other end with a free-kick, but Angel di Maria's delivery was straight at Rob Sanchez. Not the greatest cross in the world, that. By Dan Davis To the surprise of absolutely no one, Cole Palmer has been the conduit through which everything good from Chelsea has flown. He whipped another inviting cross into the box with plenty of power but again, that man Antonio Silva crashed away a header. By Dan Davis Cole Palmer forced Anatoliy Trubin to tip behind his stinging effort at the near post. I thought he'd hit the woodwork, but nope. Good stop. It's Chelsea asking all the questions now. By Dan Davis So, so close for Chelsea! Wow. Liam Delap found Marc Cucurella inside the box and the defender, who loves a goal, bent his effort toward the top corner. The goalkeeper was beaten all ends up but Antonio Silva was there to head off the line. Heroic - and crucial. By Dan Davis Cole Palmer fired a devilish ball in across the six-yard box but no one gambled. That's a big wasted opportunity. Seconds later, Enzo Fernandez saw an effort blocked. By Dan Davis Bash. Marc Cucurella steamed into a challenge on Angel di Maria and was penalised. He escaped with a warning. By Dan Davis Another scare for the Premier League side. Angel di Maria slid the ball into the box and Reece James held off Andreas Schjelderup, allowing Robert Sanchez to get there. Strong defending from the full back, that. By Dan Davis Sloppy at the back, and Chelsea were almost caught out. Benoit Badiashile was napping, releasing Vangelis Pavlidis, but Levi Colwill got a foot in to make a crucial tackle at the last second. A bit of rustiness there from Badiashile. He needs to be careful. By Dan Davis Good football again. Moises Caicedo linked up sharply with Cole Palmer inside the box, but his low cross was right at the goalkeeper. Plenty of promising signs for Enzo Maresca in the stifling heat. By Dan Davis It's all Chelsea in these early stages. Cole Palmer dropped his shoulder and went down wanting a free-kick, but he didn't get it. The Blues recycled possession out to the opposite flank where Enzo Fernandez delivered, and his cross deflected behind for a corner. The set piece was worked short but the flag went up for offside. By Dan Davis Enzo Fernandez fed through Liam Delap, who looked to have got the better of Antonio Silva, but the defender recovered superbly. The direct approach through the thirds is working a treat. By Dan Davis That didn't take long. Almost a scintillating start for Chelsea. The ball was fizzed down the right-hand side for Pedro Neto, who did superbly to hold off Samuel Dahl before pulling the trigger. Anatoliy Trubin saved at his near post and gathered the rebound. By Kieran Gill At Bank Of America Stadium By Dan Davis Finally, we're up and running at the Bank of America Stadium! By Dan Davis It's about 33 degrees centigrade in Charlotte and we've begun the glitzy, but ultimately rubbish and very drawn out, walk outs. The match officials led the procession, grabbing the match ball as they went, before Benfica quickly followed them. Chelsea were last out. Remember, each player gets their name read out one by one as they head out onto the pitch. It feels like it takes an age every time. There were notably more cheers than boos for the Blues. By Dan Davis Now's the time to get that kettle on the boil. Let's get some score predictions, shall we? Who do you fancy? I reckon Chelsea in 90 minutes, and a pretty comfortable win at that. Kieran Gill, our man at the Bank of America Stadium, went for 1-1 after 90 minutes but the Blues to win it in extra time. By Dan Davis Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel is mystified by Enzo Maresca's decision to play Cole Palmer out wide again tonight. He's, errrr, not happy. Speaking on DAZN, Mikel had this to say. .. By Dan Davis Apparently there are thousands of tickets still up for grabs tonight. It will be interesting to see just how many empty pockets there are. I don't think it will be this quiet come kick-off, though. Don't worry. By Dan Davis I don't think it will take long for the players to warm up, so to speak. We've got around 25 minutes before we get underway in Charlotte. By Dan Davis Chelsea striker Liam Delap, speaking to DAZN: By Dan Davis It's fair to say Jurgen Klopp did not hold back in his assessment of the expanded Club World Cup. Just have a read of these comments. Do you agree or disagree? Let us know! By Dan Davis A gentle reminder: you can watch tonight's game for free on DAZN. Just click this link and follow the steps. Nice and easy. By Dan Davis Blimey. Chelsea aren't messing around, are they? We also understand a bid for Brighton forward Joao Pedro has been turned down. It was worth around £50million. The Seagulls are holding out for offers in the region of £60m. Newcastle are also in the race but the Blues appear to have the advantage. Pedro scored 10 goals in all competitions last season. By Dan Davis Now that the players are in the house, we can get this show on the road. The sun is shining (probably a bit too much) and the energy is crackling nicely around the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. I'm really looking forward to this one. Benfica are certainly no pushovers and there are several players in that XI you'll recognise. Make no mistake, they're here to spoil the party. By Dan Davis By the way, either Chelsea or Benfica will face Palmeiras in the quarter-finals. Paulinho's 100th-minute goal settled their contest against fellow Brazilian side Botafogo after extra time was required. By Dan Davis That's a strong-looking team. Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi, both of Premier League fame, start. Antonio Silva has also been linked with a move to the top-flight. By Dan Davis So, here is the Chelsea XI. As expected, Liam Delap leads the line. Reece James returns to right back while there is a surprise start for Benoit Badiashile, who has got the nod over Trevoh Chalobah. Tosin Adarabioyo starts alongside Levi Colwill. Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are the midfield trio while Cole Palmer and Pedro Neto will be out wide. In goal, Robert Sanchez starts over Filip Jorgensen. By Dan Davis As expected, Enzo Maresca has ripped up his Chelsea side and made no less than SEVEN changes for tonight's game. Full team news will drop shortly. By Dan Davis Cole Palmer looks in the zone. By Dan Davis Like the rest of the Club World Cup, tonight's game will be free-to-air for UK viewers. Lucky, lucky you. If you want to watch alongside our coverage, simply head to the DAZN website and register for free. No subscription is required. By Dan Davis Please do get involved tonight, folks. If you support Chelsea, you must be delighted with the latest signing. Yes, he's young, but he already looks the real deal. You can drop your thoughts in the comments. By Dan Davis KIERAN GILL IN CHARLOTTE: Chelsea have agreed a deal with Borussia Dortmund to sign Jamie Gittens. While the figures have not been revealed, sources have confirmed the Blues are set to secure the 20-year-old Englishman after chasing him since the summer window opened. Gittens has already appeared for Dortmund at the Club World Cup and so would not be able to be added to Chelsea’s squad, should they beat Benfica in their last-16 clash. He is set to sign a seven-year contract which was agreed earlier this month, and is going to undergo a medical over the weekend. Chelsea previously had a £42million bid turned down by Dortmund before striking their new deal. You can read the full story below. By Dan Davis I've been impressed with what I've seen from Liam Delap in his first few outings in a Chelsea shirt. What a bargain as well at £30million. Nicolas Jackson remains suspended tonight after his ridiculous straight red card - and subsequent two-match ban - against Flamengo. That will surely leave the door open for Delap to start up top. Remember, he scored his first goal for his new club last time out against Esperance Tunis. Can he grab another one today? By Dan Davis Well, well, well. .. I'm seeing a few whispers on social media that Chelsea have now agreed a deal to sign Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund. He is set to join on a whopping seven-year deal and could even undergo his medical in the United States as soon as tonight. I'll keep you across the latest as soon as we get confirmation. What a signing that would be. By Dan Davis Enzo Maresca is under no illusions that tonight will be Chelsea's sternest challenge in the Club World Cup so far. Speaking yesterday, he said. .. By Dan Davis It's going to be another scorcher out there. Hardly ideal conditions. I've just checked and the weather in Charlotte, where this game is taking place, is currently a barmy 34 degrees centigrade. It's just 19 degrees where I'm ensconced away typing these posts. I won't lie, it's still pretty humid here, too, so I can't begin to imagine how those players must be coping. Absolutely brutal. Look after yourself, Kieran! By Kieran Gill At Bank Of America Stadium By Dan Davis Welcome along, folks. A place in the Club World Cup quarter-finals is up for grabs this evening and boy, do both these clubs want it. This will surely prove Chelsea's toughest test since touching down in the United States, however, and I'm predicting a pretty tight game. The Blues secured their spot in the last-16 after cruising to a 3-0 win over Esperance Tunis and a victory today will see them face either Palmeiras or Botafogo. That tie has gone to extra time. Expect Enzo Maresca to ring the changes once again because of the extraordinary heat. He said it would be 'impossible' not to use the entirety of his squad, although Nicolas Jackson remains suspended. Without further ado, let's get cracking, shall we? We haven’ t seen the best of Palmer yet in th. ..

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