Club World Cup: Chelsea 1-0 Al Hilal, goal from Lukaku

Chelsea need only a Romelu Lukaku goal to overcome Al-Hilal and fly to the final in the Club World Cup, where they will face Palmeiras. A narrow victory for Thomas Tuchel’s team, in a game managed in large parts especially in the first half.

THE MATCH

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The German coach chooses the former Inter striker to lead the attacking department and the Belgian proves to be one of the most active from the early stages: after a missed ball on a nice cross from the right, the first real one is built in the 26th minute. the occasion of the challenge moving well in the area and finishing with a left foot, but finds the response of Al Muaiouf. The Arabs raise the pressure a little and the Blues punish them immediately. Havertz looks for space on the left, his cross passes Lukaku but the clumsy header from Al Shahrani delivers the ball to the opponent, who beats the goalkeeper from a few steps away and gives Chelsea the lead (32 ‘). At half-time, Tuchel put in Kanté for Jorginho to give more muscle to the midfield and the English were close to doubling, with a shot from a tight angle by Havertz hitting the post in the 48th minute. Al-Hilal becomes dangerous a quarter of an hour later with Marega, but Kepa overcomes and denies the goal to the former Porto, only to repeat shortly after also on Kanno. The Arabs try to increase the thrust, but the Blues are again close to the knockout blow with the substitute Mount: his shot is well aimed but is intercepted by Kanno (80 ‘). It is the last flash of the game, it ends 1-0 for Chelsea.

MONTERREY IN 5th PLACE

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A few hours before the second semi-final, Monterrey and the Al-Jazira hosts competed for fifth place. The Mexicans won without too much difficulty, mortgaging the success already in the first half of the first half. At 4 ‘Sultan’s own goal opens the scoring, at 11’ it is already 2-0 with a goal from Funes Mori. Montes scores in the 25th minute and Aguirre’s team can manage the accumulated advantage without any problems. In full recovery, the champions of the United Arab Emirates find the goal of the flag with Bruno for the final 3-1. The last two games of the competition will be played on Saturday: the final for third place between Al-Hilal and Al-Ahly (14:00 Italian) and the one announced that the trophy will be awarded between Chelsea and Palmeiras (17:30).