Chelsea supervisor Enzo Maresca unveiled two surprising tactical selections in his beginning XI for Saturday’s Membership World Cup last-16 conflict towards Benfica.
After rotating closely in Tuesday’s match towards Esperance Tunis, Maresca restored a stronger lineup—however not with out surprises. Most notably, Tosin Adarabioyo was dropped, with Benoit Badiashile taking his place alongside Levi Colwill in central protection, regardless of each being pure left-footers.
One other shock got here in midfield, the place Romeo Lavia returned to the beginning XI alongside Moises Caicedo. Enzo Fernandez was deployed in a complicated position as a quantity 10, pushing Cole Palmer to the best flank and handing Pedro Neto a begin on the left wing. Neto, who missed Tuesday’s recreation, returned to the lineup with some extent to show.
Reece James additionally returned to captain the facet at right-back, whereas Liam Delap stored his spot up entrance resulting from Nicolas Jackson’s suspension.
Chelsea’s full XI:
Sanchez; James, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Palmer, Fernandez, Neto; Delap
In the meantime, Benfica made two modifications from the staff that defeated a rotated Bayern Munich facet to prime their group. Renato Sanches and Gianluca Prestianni have been dropped, with Florentino Luis and Orkun Kokcu introduced into midfield to bolster the engine room.
Benfica’s full XI:
Trubin; Silva, Aursnes, Kokcu, Di Maria, Pavlidis, Barreiro, Schjelderup, Dahl, Otamendi, Florentino
The tactical reshuffle provides additional intrigue to this pivotal last-16 matchup, the place each managers are searching for an edge in what guarantees to be a fiercely contested Membership World Cup encounter.
