Romelu Lukaku was on target as Chelsea secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Al-Hilal to advance to the FIFA Club World Cup finals on Wednesday.
The quest for a first-ever Club World Cup title for Chelsea got off to a good start as Lukaku scored the only goal of the semi-final tie against Al-Hilal which took place at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The Belgian forward latched on to a lose ball after a brilliant cross from Kai Havertz bounced off an Al-Hilal defender and landed on his path.
Lukaku made no mistake in rifling home from six yards out to end his run of five games without a goal.
Havertz and Hakim Ziyech also came close to extending Chelsea’s lead but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Al-Hilal tried to put themselves back in the game with several chances in the second half but Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was at his brilliant best to keep them at bay.
Mohamed Kanno and Moussa Marega came close to an equaliser for the winners of last season’s AFC Champions League, but Kepa denied them with some very good saves.
In the end, the European champions secured the victory to advance to the finals where they will face Palmerias.
“We worked very hard, we missed a bit of freedom and rhythm. We started a little nervous, it was not easy. We fought hard for it to find a solution,” Chelsea assistant coach Zsolt Low said after the match.
“My opinion is the solution was there but we didn’t find it easily. We missed a bit of rhythm in this game but we fought hard to get the result and reach the final.”
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He went on to laud the players’ attitude in the match and revealed how important the competition was to the club.
“This competition is very important for the club. The players felt the pressure and that’s why we failed to find the easy solution and score goals.
“The players did well. We didn’t concede and had a lot of opportunities to score a second.”
Low also gave an insight to when Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel would be available, revealing the manager’s contribution in absentia.
“We hope Thomas Tuchel can travel as soon as possible. As I said before he’ll follow the government rules. He’s in self-isolation now and doing a Covid PCR test every day.
“Once he tests negative it opens the possibility to travel. Every day we wait for it. We wish he can come to the enjoy the final.
“We talked to Thomas at half-time and had a good conversation. He had the same feeling that we were a little nervous and had a lot of easy ball losses. We talked about telling the guys to calm down, find the rhythm and not fight so hard for solutions.
“We had a good conversation. After the game we’ve not spoken yet; maybe a bit later we can talk to each other.”
Since Roman Abramovich took over at the club, the Club World Cup is the only trophy that has eluded Chelsea.
The club came close in 2012 but fell to a 1-0 defeat to Brazilian side Corinthians in the final in Japan.
Chelsea now have a second opportunity to land the trophy when they face last season’s Copa Libertadores winners Palmeiras in the final on Saturday, February 12.
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