Chelsea’s second-string side secures Club World Cup round of 16 spot

Goals from Tosin Adarabioyo, Liam Delap and Tyrique George saw Chelsea’s second-string side secure a place in the round of 16 at the Club World Cup with a 3-0 victory over Esperance de Tunis in their final Group D match on Tuesday.

Group winners Flamengo were held 1-1 by Los Angeles FC to finish on seven points, one ahead of Chelsea. Esperance finished third with three points while LA FC were bottom with one.

Chelsea face Group C winners Benfica in the last 16 on Saturday at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, while Flamengo take on Bayern Munich, Group C runners-up, in Miami on Sunday.

Despite the stakes, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca opted to rotate his squad once more, resting key players such as Cole Palmer and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

He was missing striker Nicolas Jackson, who will also be unavailable against Benfica as he serves a two-match suspension after his red card in Friday’s 3-1 loss to Flamengo.

Delap, a £30m signing from Ipswich Town, came close to opening the scoring in the 20th minute but his header was cleared off the line.

The breakthrough finally came in first-half stoppage time when Adarabioyo rose highest to head the ball into the bottom left corner.

Moments later Delap doubled Chelsea’s lead, capitalising on a loose ball inside the box, cutting inside a defender and finishing neatly into the far corner.

The second half saw Chelsea control proceedings without pressing for a third goal. The London side made it 3-0 when substitute George fired home from the edge of the box deep in added time. 

Benfica’s Andreas Schjelderup struck in the first half to seal a 1-0 win over Bayern in sweltering heat, sending the Portuguese side to the top of Group C.

Schjelderup broke the deadlock after 13 minutes with a first-time finish off Fredrik Aursnes’ low cross from the right, capitalising on a lapse in Bayern’s backline.

With Bayern already assured of a place in the next round, their rotated line-up lacked urgency. The Germans improved after the break and Joshua Kimmich thought he had equalised, but his effort was ruled out for Harry Kane being offside. 

Misfiring Flamengo were held to a 1-1 draw by Los Angeles in their final group match in Orlando but the Brazilian side still go into the knockout stage with some momentum.

Denis Bouanga put the MLS club ahead in the 84th minute but substitute Wallace Yan responded two minutes later to ensure Flamengo would progress unbeaten to their last-16 tie against Bayern. — Reuters