Chelsea vs Benfica – Club World Cup last-16 preview and team news

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The Football Faithful

·28 June 2025

Chelsea vs Benfica – Club World Cup last-16 preview and team news

Chelsea and Benfica will face off in competitive action for just the fourth time ever as the two teams meet in the round of 16 in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Blues boast a 100 percent record against the Portuguese giants, with their most recent meeting seeing them lift the UEFA Europa League trophy in 2013. Their previous two encounters came on the way to Champions League glory a year prior.

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Benfica have bounced back from the disappointment of losing the Primeira Liga title race to Sporting CP on the final day of the season by coming through the group stage unbeaten.

Former Wolves manager Bruno Lage will be looking to mastermind another upset after his side beat Bayern Munich to finish top of Group C. Chelsea will be considered the favourites heading into this tie, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that they could only finish second in Group D following a shock defeat to Flamengo.

The winner of this clash will come up against Brazilian opposition in the form of Palmeiras or Botafogo.

Chelsea vs Benfica preview

Date: Saturday, 28 June, 2025

Kick-off: 9pm BST

Venue: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

TV channel: DAZN

Last meeting: Chelsea 2-1 Benfica, Europa League final, 2013

Read – ‘Nice boy’ Enzo Fernandez ‘will be even better next season’

Chelsea vs Benfica team news

Chelsea: Striker Nicolas Jackson remains suspended after receiving a two-match ban for his red card against Flamengo. Enzo Maresca otherwise has a full deck to choose from, with defender Wesley Fofana the only player on the treatment table after undergoing hamstring surgery in April.

Benfica: Forward Andrea Belotti returns from suspension, while midfielder Florentino Luis is set to come back from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the last two games. Alexander Bah and Manu Silva are long-term absentees.

Predicted lineups

Possible Chelsea XI: Sanchez; James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; Delap.

Possible Benfica XI: Trubin; Aursnes, Silva, Otamendi, Carreras; Barreiro, Sanches; Di Maria, Prestianni, Schjelderup; Pavlidis.

Read – Chelsea boss reveals transfer stance on defensive duo amid exit speculation

Recent form

Chelsea: WWWLW

Maresca’s men ended the season strongly, coming out victorious in five of their final six Premier League games to finish fourth before winning the Conference League final against Real Betis in convincing manner.

They took that form into their Club World Cup opener, beating LAFC 2-0 in Atlanta. But they followed that up by surrendering a one-goal lead to Flamengo, losing 3-1. They were able to secure passage to the knockout stage with a comfortable 3-0 win over Tunisian club Esperance.

Pedro Neto is Chelsea’s top scorer with two goals, while Tyrique George, Tosin Adarabioyo, Liam Delap and Enzo Fernandez have also gotten on the scoresheet.

Benfica: DLDWW

The 2024/25 campaign ended with a damp squib for the Eagles, drawing their final two league games against Sporting and Braga, both of whom were reduced to ten men, to lose the title to the former by two points. They went on to lose the Portuguese Cup final to their Lisbon rival a week later.

Benfica kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with an eventful 2-2 draw against Boca Juniors in which three players were sent off. A 6-0 win over Auckland City set up a showdown between them and Bayern to decide the group winners, and Benfica managed to pull off a 1-0 win thanks to a 13th-minute goal from Andreas Schjelderup.

Former Manchester United attacker Angel Di Maria has scored three goals at the tournament.