Joao Pedro scored two stunning goals in his first start for Chelsea as they beat Fluminense 2-0 to reach the Club World Cup final.
The £60m signing from Brighton was making his first start for Chelsea and showed why they wanted him with a goal in each half to sink the Brazilian side where he started his career and set up a final meeting with either Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain.
Chelsea endured a couple of scares in retaining their first-half lead, Marc Cucurella doing well to clear the ball off the line after Hercules had beaten Robert Sanchez with his shot.
Trevor Chalobah then saw the referee initially award a penalty against him.
The ball struck the Chelsea defender on the hand following a left-wing free-kick but a VAR review saw the official change his mind, ruling that the England international’s hand had been in a natural position. The Fluminense players were furious with the call.
In the sweltering heat of New Jersey, the fear for Chelsea was that they might falter under pressure. But as Fluminense chased the equaliser, they were punished on the break by that man Joao Pedro. His powerful strike sent Chelsea into Sunday’s final.
Chelsea had already made almost £60m in participation and prize money for reaching the semi-final stage of the tournament and they made another £22m with their win over Fluminense. Another £29m is on the line in the final at the weekend.
In other words, Joao Pedro has swiftly paid off a chunk of his fee with this outrageous full debut. Chelsea’s new signing had not scored from outside the box in 70 games for his previous club Brighton, but it took him just 18 minutes to curl the ball home here.
If that effort showed his class, his second-half strike highlighted other assets – his ability as a ball carrier on the counter-attack, his dribbling threat and the power of his shooting. It was an emphatic finish by the Brazilian to all but end Fluminense’s hopes.
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