Chelsea win Club World Cup opener against LAFC in front of empty seats
By Sunny Badwal, PA
Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez were on target as Chelsea started their Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory over LAFC in front of a stadium which was less than a third full in Atlanta.
The players walked out at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which holds a capacity of 71,000, with only 22,137 fans in attendance and the entire upper tier of the arena was completely vacant.
Chelsea played in front of over 70,000 fans at the same venue against Newcastle in the Premier League’s Summer Series just a couple of years ago but deserted seats were the common theme this time as Enzo Maresca’s side claimed the first three points of their campaign.
The few who turned up saw Neto open Chelsea’s account just after the half-hour mark to give the Blues a well-deserved lead heading into the half-time break.
Chelsea were made to work hard for their second goal, with £30million summer signing Liam Delap introduced after the break and he supplied fellow substitute Fernandez with the second to seal the victory 11 minutes from time.
Former Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris was brought into action early on to deny Nicolas Jackson, who forced a snapshot on target in tight space from inside the area.
Chelsea dominated possession and were beginning to trap LAFC closer to their own goal. Jackson did well to pick out Noni Madueke who forced another save from Lloris.
The Conference League winners broke the deadlock in the 34th minute. Neto broke the offside trap and latched onto Jackson’s magnificent pass and the Portugal international cut the ball back in and fired into the bottom corner.
LAFC chances were few and far between in the first period but Denis Bouanga’s cross caused problems for Robert Sanchez, who flapped at the delivery and sent it behind for a corner.
The American side did not want to back down to Chelsea though, and substitute David Martinez made an impact off the bench. His curling strike looked to have Sanchez scrambling but former Blues forward Olivier Giroud accidentally got himself in the way of the effort.
Chelsea almost doubled their advantage after the interval, Neto’s teasing cross found Jackson who headed on target but Timothy Tillman proved to be the saviour on the line to keep the deficit at one.
New signing Delap was introduced for his Chelsea debut in the 63rd minute and instantly made an impact. He almost made a second with his dazzling footwork on the byline but his pass into the box was snuffed out.
Chelsea continued to probe in search of a two-goal cushion and they found it in the 79th minute – Delap got the assist as he hung a ball into the middle of the box and Fernandez was waiting to tap home.