2 years ago
Mysterious win as Lukkaku leads Chelsea to the Final stage.
The semi-finals of the Club World Cup saw Al-Hilal and Chelsea meet at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi , and it had been the Blues who secured their place in Sunday's final after winning the match 1-0.
Romelu Lukaku scored the sole goal of the sport within the 32nd minute, with Chelsea having dominated the opening 45 minutes, but Al-Hilal caused tons of problems for the Blues in the second period.
Chelsea were without head coach Thomas Tuchel for this match after he tested positive for COVID-19, and it had been a tale of two halves for his team as he watched on from elsewhere. The Blues were very assured within the half and created tons of chances, yet they might only find the rear of internet once.
The goal itself came after Kai Havertz sent a looped cross into the box that hit Yasser Al-Shahrani then landed at the feet of Lukaku, who struck past Abdullah Al-Muaiouf from a couple of yards out.
It seemed as if Chelsea's dominance was getting to continue within the last half as Havertz hit the woodwork within the 48th minute. The German was bearing down on goal and saw his chipped effort crash against the post before going behind, but that appeared to provoke a response among the Al-Hilal players.
Particularly from the 55th to the 75th minute, Al-Hilal created a couple of chances but were denied by a mix of the Chelsea defenders and Kepa Arrizabalaga, while their inability to hit the target came back to haunt them.
The best chance for Al-Hilal fell the way of Mohamed Kanno within the 68th minute, as his curling effort looked as if it had been getting to find yourself within the corner of Kepa's goal, but the Spaniard achieved a world-class save to stay Chelsea's lead intact.
In Saturday's final (16:30 GMT), Chelsea will combat Brazilian side Palmeiras, who have prodigious talent Endrick in their ranks.
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