FIFA Club World Cup
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Flamengo fought back to beat Premier League side Chelsea 3-1 in a thrilling Club World Cup 2025 clash in Philadelphia today.
Chelsea opened the scoring through an early Pedro Neto goal and appeared to be cruising to victory at Lincoln Financial Field.
But the Premier League side completely capitulated during a disastrous second half, with sub Bruno Henrique and veteran Danilo striking for Flamengo within four minutes to turn the game around.
Nicolas Jackson was sent off for Chelsea two minutes later before sub Wallace Yan rubbed salt in the wounds by adding Flamengo’s third.
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Flamengo 3 Chelsea 1 – Jackson sent off as Maresca’s team implode at Club World Cup
We are less than an hour away from kick-off between Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors.
A reminder: you can follow live coverage of that match, right here on The Athletic, via this link.
Enjoy!
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After his red card, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson took to his Instagram page to issue an apology.
It reads: “I want to say sorry. To the club, the staff, my teammates, and all the fans watching, I let you down. Another red card… and honestly, I'm so angry at myself. I work hard every day to help the team, not to put us in this kind of situation.
“I still don't fully understand how it happened. But one thing is clear: it wasn't intentional. Just a football moment that went the wrong way. No excuses. I take full responsibility.
“I'll reflect, I'll grow, and I'll come back stronger for the badge and for everyone who believes in me. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.”
He followed the post with two prayer emojis and a blue heart.
No rest for the wicked at this Club World Cup as, after today's action concludes later on, there are four matches to come tomorrow.
It is the turn of Groups E and F to take centre stage again and it all starts in Cincinnati where German giants Borussia Dortmund are looking for their first win of the tournament, against Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.
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We have coverage of one more Club World Cup fixture today, and it is the last second-round game from this group as Bayern Munich face Boca Juniors.
We can only hope for as many goals and as much drama as this one… and the best news is that you can follow along live, here on The Athletic.
You can catch all the action on the late kick-off with us, so don't go anywhere!
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Benfica 6 Auckland City 0: Lage’s patience tested as underdogs dig deep
More developments from earlier: the Club World Cup fixture between Benfica and Auckland City was delayed by more than two hours on Friday due to the weather conditions in Orlando.
The fixture at the Inter & Co Stadium was suspended at 1:06pm local time during the half-time break amid thunderstorms and heavy rain in the area, with Benfica leading 1-0.
Fans were asked to leave their seats and take shelter while play was suspended.
The lightning eventually subsided and players returned to the pitch to warm up, before it was confirmed play would resume at 3:20pm local time — two hours and 14 minutes after the game was initially paused.
Benfica went on to win 6-0 against their amateur opposition, with Angel Di Maria scoring two penalties, Leandro Barreiro scoring twice, and Vangelis Pavlidis and Renato Sanches also getting on the scoresheet.
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Benfica-Auckland City Club World Cup game endures over two-hour weather delay
After that testy and fractious match, Flamengo's English-speaking account on X was enjoying some banter, posting: “Chelsea is just a small neighborhood in London”.
Then then added in another tweet: “Too hot for Cold Palmer” (Chelsea attacker Cole Palmer's nickname) with a picture of the Philadelphia weather forecast.
Both posts now appear to have been deleted.
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To be fair, a crowd of 54,019 at Lincoln Financial Field on a Friday afternoon is pretty impressive.
The tournament, and FIFA, will hope they don't see any more matches plagued by vast swathes of empty seats and more well-attended matches like this one.
Also in the Club World Cup today, a heavily weather-delayed match between Benfica and Auckland City.
After a resilient first-half performance, a lengthy weather break hampered Auckland City as they were easily unpicked by Benfica in the second half and ended up losing 6-0 in Orlando, Florida.
A big win for Benfica.
And you can follow all the reaction with The Athletic's live coverage from Nancy Froston here.
Neto… not looking happy.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca also chatted to DAZN's Anita Jones after the match, admitting Flamengo were the better team and that the red card was a turning point.
He said: “Completely changed the game, unfortunately. It's very complicated to come back in the game. We tried, but congratulations to them.”
When asked whether he has spoken to Nicolas Jackson after his sending off, Maresca added: “No. It was a red card, so nothing to say.
“Congratulations to them, they deserved to win, we tried to do something different, for next season.” Fair to say it didn't work? “No, I wouldn't say that. We tried something different.”
Interesting!
Chelsea conceded three goals today for the first time since losing 3-0 against Brighton in the Premier League on February 14.
It is their third time conceding three or more goals this year (also allowed three at Manchester City on January 25).
Also, Flamengo’s Gonzalo Plata registered two assists today. The last time he had two or more goal contributions in a match was November 14, 2024 with Ecuador against Bolivia in World Cup qualifying.
Bruno Henrique’s two goal contributions (goal and assist) marked his first appearance with two or more since February 2.
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Goalscorer and Flamengo veteran Danilo also chatted to DAZN post-match and he underlined their work rate as a key reason for winning.
He said: “First of all, really proud of the Brazilian teams at this tournament.
“We've been working really hard these last few weeks and we're showing on the pitch the work that has been.
“(The manager told us) To keep calm, to keep playing. We kept our minds focused on what we have to do and the result came to our side.”
OK, that was an awful challenge from Nicolas Jackson (not a happy birthday), but Chelsea had also lost control of the game before going down to ten men.
Jorginho admitted his side believed they could win even despite being one down at the break.
He said to Anita Nneka Jones on DAZN: “We were really confident and we know in these big games, details make the difference.
“Overall, we were really good in the first half so we were really confident.
“We felt confident because we were playing good football and we needed to keep going the way we were.”
Another former Chelsea player has spoken to the media…
Nicolas Jackson was sent off for an awful studs-up tackle three minutes after coming on as a substitute as Chelsea imploded in six minutes of madness to lose 3-1 against Flamengo at the Club World Cup.
Flamengo are now in control of group D, with all of Brazil’s teams unbeaten at the tournament and Chelsea in a fight to qualify for the last 16.
Below, The Athletic’s Liam Twomey, Stuart James, and Larry Henry Jr break down the key talking points.
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Flamengo 3 Chelsea 1 – Jackson sent off as Maresca’s team implode at Club World Cup
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Victorious manager Filipe Luis spoke to DAZN after the match and he hailed his team's performance.
He said: “I'm really happy for the game. We believed since the beginning we would have chances against them. I'm really proud.
“After Wesley's mistake, we didn't stop playing, kept going the same way we always play. My heart is warm right now because of this.
“Bruno (Henrique) is special. He is the player with the most titles in club history. One minute, five, 90, he always gives his heart. I'm really happy for him. And Danilo is huge. You have to enjoy these players.”
Striking a pose!
Is there anything better than watching your side, the underdogs, beating a more illustrious team?
Looks a hell of an atmosphere in that Flamengo end at the Lincoln Financial Field!
