Having successfully navigated the FIFA Club World Cup group stage, Chelsea’s first knockout match is against Benfica of Lisbon, in a clash of European capitals at the Bank of America Stadium.

After the extreme heat of Philadelphia, the local temperature in North Carolina is expected to be around 32ºC at kick-off, which is 9pm UK time, with a chance of rain.

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Enzo Maresca was happy with his rotated team’s dominant 3-0 victory over 34-time Tunisian title-winners Esperance to finish runners-up in Group D, a point behind Flamengo.

It racked up the Londoners’ 16th win and 12th clean sheet across the past 22 matches on all fronts.

Liam Delap delivered his first goal in the rampant lion shirt, teenager Tyrique George netted, and plenty of youngsters enjoyed playing minutes while regular starters were shielded from the excesses of the east coast heatwave.

Chelsea’s leading scorer Pedro Neto will now face his former coach at Wolves, Bruno Lage, who returned to Estadio da Luz in September 2024, winning the League Cup and finishing second in the Primeira Liga.

The two-time European Cup winners earned their ticket to this competition via the UEFA rankings pathway and toppled Group C leaders Bayern with a 1-0 win in the Tar Heel state through Andreas Schjelderup’s side-footed finish.

Benfica had never previously beaten Bayern despite 13 meetings between the European giants.

All teams’ routes to the final are now mapped out. Should the Blues maintain our 100 per cent record against the Eagles, our quarter-final opponents will be the winners of the Brazilian showdown between São Paulo club Palmeiras and Botafogo of Rio de Janeiro, which starts four hours earlier in Philadelphia.

Chelsea defeated Palmeiras in the 2022 final of this competition and the side we beat in the semi-final, Al Hilal, are also on the same side of the draw as the Blues.

Chelsea vs Benfica – the history

The Blues have met the Eagles three times previously in a competitive setting, all wins within 14 months of each other, and significant milestones in the Londoners’ quest for silverware.

The Lisbon giants hosted the first of two quarter-final meetings in the 2011/12 Champions League at Estadio da Luz on 27 March.

Robbie Di Matteo rested a host of regular starters and saw a tight game settled with a quarter-hour left: Ramires’s lung-busting run ending with a pass to Fernando Torres who squared for Salomon Kalou to finish.

The return at the Bridge started brightly for the Blues with Frank Lampard’s penalty finding a way past Eagles goalkeeper Artur. Visiting captain Maxi Pereira was then shown a second yellow by the referee but Javi Garcia levelled from a corner with five to go.

However, the most memorable incident was Raul Meireles ramming home from long-range for a 2-1 Chelsea win and celebrating as only a former Porto player would in front of fans from the Portuguese capital.

Chelsea famously went on to the win that competition in Munich but a poor defence of the title in 2012/13 meant demotion to the Europa League, where the Blues eventually met Benfica in that competition’s final at the Amsterdam Arena on 15 May 2013.

The Londoners’ 2-1 victory brought the Europa League trophy to England for the first time, despite Torres’ second-half opener being cancelled out by Oscar Cardozo’s penalty.

The winner came from the head of Serbian defender Branislav Ivanović, just as extra time beckoned and, for ten days, the Blues were in possession of Europe’s top two trophies simultaneously.

2025 Club World Cup regulations

As we enter the knockout stage the 16 remaining clubs are allowed to add two players to their Club World Cup squad between 27 June and 3 July.

As usual five replacements are allowed per match (a sixth in extra time), plus concussion replacements which would then give the opposition an additional sub too.

Goal-line technology, VAR, a new Advanced Semi-Automated Offside system alerting assistant referees to raise their flag immediately for clear offsides, and referee bodycams are used in this competition.

Should any knockout tie be level when normal playing time expires, two 15-minute periods of extra time will be played followed, if required, by a penalty shoot-out.

Players who accumulate two cautions must serve a one-match suspension. Chelsea have six on one: Tosin Adarabioyo, Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Liam Delap, Reece James and Pedro Neto. Single yellow cards will be cancelled after the quarter-finals.

The final will take place at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on 13 July 2025. There is no third/fourth place play-off match.

Know this…

The record for our youngest ever Club World Cup goalscorer was broken twice against Esperance, by our eighth and ninth scorers in the competition’s history. First was Liam Delap, at 22 years and 137 days, only to be overtaken by 19 years and 141-days-old Tyrique George.

Chelsea dominated possession with 74 per cent of the ball against the Tunis side, while Benfica managed just 27 per cent in their defeat of Bayern.

Esperance did not manage a shot from inside the box against Chelsea on Wednesday – the first such instance since Leicester’s visit to the Bridge in May 2022.

Fernandez has recorded four goals and seven assists across all competitions since the beginning of April 2025.

Pedro Neto is all-time joint-leading scorer for the Blues in Club World Cup tournaments, alongside 2021/22 winner Romelu Lukaku.

Chelsea goalscorers in Club World Cup

Pedro Neto - 2
Romelu Lukaku - 2
Tyrique George - 1
Liam Delap - 1
Tosin Adarabioyo - 1
Enzo Fernandez - 1
Kai Havertz - 1
Juan Mata - 1
Fernando Torres - 1
Own goal - 1