The Blues booked our place in the final of the Club World Cup with a 2-0 semi-final victory over Fluminense in New Jersey last night. It will be our second final in the space of two months, following our UEFA Conference League triumph at the end of May.

We now return to the same MetLife Stadium venue on Sunday to take on the winner of the other semi-final between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain – who meet this evening – in the 2025 Club World Cup final, with kick-off at 8pm UK time.

• Tickets for the Club World Cup final are still available so support your Blues here

It has been an impressive campaign out in the USA, winning five of our six matches at the tournament and keeping clean sheets in three of them, including yesterday’s semi-final, when a brace from Joao Pedro on his full debut sealed victory.

For Neto, that demonstrates the growing big-game maturity this Chelsea team is gaining from playing so much high-pressure knockout football, which can only accelerate our development.

‘I think the results speak for themselves,’ he said. ‘The way that we have been working, the way that we have been doing things, has been really good.

‘We have been improving a lot, we have more to come. We are just really happy with the things that we are doing and we hope to finish in the best way.

‘You can see throughout the tournament we have had difficult moments. We had difficult moments in terms of controlling the game, and we could control it with the defence.

‘We did a really good job, we are improving a lot in that area, by being more experienced in these kind of moments. We are really happy to be in the final and hopefully we can continue to work in the same way.’

Another win and another clean sheet is helping to build confidence within the Chelsea ranks in the USA. That was clear from Neto’s unequivocal response when he was asked if the Blues would be ready to take on our next opponents in the final.

‘We are more than ready!' he stated. 'I think we just have to focus on ourselves and then see what happens in the final. We are really hopeful we can win it.

‘We are really happy to reach the final. The tournament we have been doing is unbelievable, so we are ready for the final, to play our game, and we hope we can win it.

‘We are just ready to play our game and play our football, to try to win the competition. It would be unbelievable. It would be a dream come true one more time. I’m really looking forward to playing this final and let’s see what’s going to happen.’

However, off the pitch it has been a difficult tournament for Neto. Like the rest of the footballing world, he was shocked by the tragic death of his former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Portugal team-mate Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva, and they were on his mind after helping Chelsea reach this final.

‘I just want to give the message that this final is for him and his brother,’ added Pedro. ‘It’s a really tough time for me and it’s difficult to speak as well, but I hope I can do it for him.

‘Let’s see what’s going to happen, but I want to dedicate this final to him and to his family to show the support that during this difficult time we are all sending to them.’

Tickets are available to see our Club World Cup final in New Jersey so support your Blues here. You can also watch the game live anywhere in the world via DAZN by signing up for free here.