For 85 minutes of the contest at the Bank of America Stadium, Enzo Maresca's side was in full control. We had taken the lead through an excellent free-kick from Reece James and had limited the Portuguese giant's threat.

However, with five minutes of normal time remaining, severe weather stopped the game. Almost two hours passed before it was restarted, and we were dealt a cruel blow when Benfica won and converted a stoppage-time penalty.

Yet the Blues responded in extra time as, after Gianluca Prestianni was sent off, we struck three quickfire goals through Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to secure a place in the last eight.

Colwill played the full 120 minutes of the game – and ended it wearing the captain's armband. He admits the enforced weather break was difficult to contend with but highlighted the winning mentality within the squad as key to getting the job done in North Carolina.

He said: 'It was a crazy game, to be honest. I think we were in control but then we went in for the storm break and we were just waiting and waiting. But we knew what we had to do: we had to come out and win.

'We knew they were going to come back out with energy, and they had time to have a team talk and get themselves started again. We came back out, and I thought we were doing well, keeping the ball and creating chances.

'Then the referee gave a free-kick and they got the penalty and were back in it. But we kept on going.

‘We are winners, we had no choice but to win that game. We all believed in that, even when they scored. Our heads didn’t drop and we continued to create chances. Now we move on to the next one.'

Having come through our Academy, Colwill said it was once again an 'honour' to skipper the side. He also had praise for James, our club captain and fellow Cobham graduate, who opened the scoring with a fine free-kick.

‘We know he can take free-kicks; I think everyone saw his England free-kick earlier in the season,' Colwill said before adding a joke. 'We all know how good he is, but I think today he might’ve scuffed this one!

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