Chelsea beat Palmeiras to land Club World Cup title

 

Chelsea lands the Club World Cup to complete major trophy hauls under the reigns of Roman Abrahamovic. (Photo credit: FIFA)

Chelsea finally landed the only missing trophy in their cabinet after beating Brazilian side Palmeiras 2-1 after extra time on Saturday at the Mohammed Bin-Zayed stadium in Abu-Dhabi.

The Blues represented Europe at the latest edition of the Club World Cup but didn’t have it easy in the two games they played on their way to the trophy. Romelu Lukaku’s goal was enough to send Chelsea to the final over Al Hilal, for a date with the Brazilians.

Chelsea had missed out on the opportunity to win the Club World Cup in the past. They were beaten in the final of 2013 when they were the reigning European champions, they had just one job this time and they weren’t going to let it slip.

Palmeiras didn’t go down without a fight. Chelsea drew the first blood through Lukaku but were pegged back from the spot just ten minutes afterwards after the referee pointed to the spot for a handball by Tiago Silva from a corner, Rafael Veiga obliged and fired past Edouard Mendy to level matters.

Lots of chances weren’t created in the game but Chelsea managed the game very well. It’s worthy of note that Chelsea lost Mason Mount to an injury just before the hour mark, the extent of the damage is still under review but he will be away for a while.

The regulation time ended at 1-1 but Chelsea made a breakthrough before the end of the added time. With just three minutes left before the game goes into penalties, Kai Havertz converted from the spot to hand the trophy to the Blues.

"It never stops. We want to keep on winning trophies," Tuchel said in a pitch-side interview before his team were given their medals by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

"In the end if you score late you need luck to do it but we were relentless and we did not stop trying."