Benfica’s path to the Membership World Cup knockout stage included stunning victories over Auckland Metropolis and Bayern Munich. Regardless of this sturdy run, they now face one of many event favorites—Chelsea—in a high-stakes tie in North Carolina.
Chelsea’s Brazilian expertise, Andrey Santos, returned to the squad following a mortgage at Strasbourg and not too long ago made his event debut. His position remains to be being outlined, with the teaching employees seeing him as extra offensive in nature somewhat than as a deep-lying midfielder. His adaptability can be examined additional as Chelsea progress.
In the meantime, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca expressed satisfaction with Enzo Fernandez’s rising affect, pointing to his contributions in targets and assists. The Argentine midfielder has been instrumental in Chelsea’s success to this point, together with a robust show in opposition to Esperance Tunis the place he each scored and created probabilities. His tactical understanding has improved, becoming nicely into Maresca’s system after early struggles.
Pedro Neto has additionally been a standout performer for the Blues all through the event. His creativity and risk from huge areas have caught consideration, making him a relentless problem for opposition defenses.
Benfica supervisor Bruno Lage, who as soon as managed within the Premier League, acknowledged the energy of Chelsea’s attacking drive. He famous how acquainted he’s with Neto and admitted that Enzo Fernandez’s improvement since leaving Benfica has made him one of many prime midfielders at the moment taking part in in Europe.
As Chelsea gear up for this important tie, the strain is on each their younger stars and skilled figures to take care of momentum. Benfica, although seen as underdogs, have confirmed their resilience and can be aiming to disrupt Chelsea’s rhythm on this knockout fixture.
