Confirming the predictions, Chelsea made their debut at the Club World Cup on Monday (16) with a victory over Los Angeles FC. Played at a emptied Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the match ended with a score of 2 to 0.
The official public released by FIFA was 21,137 spectators. As the arena has a capacity of 71,000, the empty spaces in the stands were evident.
The duel was valid for Group D of the Tournament, which also has Flamengo and Sperance, from Tunisia, who make the group’s second confrontation later this Monday, at 10 pm (Brasília time).
Even dominating most of the actions in the game, the English team took a long time to gear and take danger to the opposing goal. The first arrival was only 18 minutes into the first half with striker Madueke, who received a long pass from Nicolas Jackson and hit firm left, stopping in good save with the foot of goalkeeper Lorris, world champion with France in 2018.
Chelsea continued to press and opened the scoring after 33 minutes, with Portuguese Pedro Neto. The striker received on the right again after a good pass from Nicolas Jackson, invaded the area and got rid of the scorer to hit the left corner.
In the second stage, La FC even came back better and had at least two chances to match the scoring, especially in striker Bouanga, but who ended up marking was Chelsea, with Enzo Fernández. The Argentine received a cross from the right and, free inside the small area, only pushed to the bottom of the net at 33.
Experienced striker Giroud entered the American team in the second stage, but was able to do with the ball.
In the next round of the group, on Friday (20), Chelsea will face Flamengo, and Los Angeles FC will play against Spertance.
