Reece James on ‘disruptive’ Benfica win and his brilliant free kick | OneFootball

Chelsea beat Benfica 4-1 in the round of 16 of the Club World Cup and Reece James opened the scoring with a clever free kick that caught Anatoliy Trubin completely unaware.

James had a set piece on the left touchline around 25-yards out, but decided to go for goal and caught the keeper out to give the west Londoners the lead midway through the second half.

On his brilliant effort, the Chelsea captain said: “No, it wasn’t in my mind. It was initially meant to be a cross. I saw the keeper, his positioning was questionable. I saw too much space in the near-post and I tried to shoot in the near-post.”

With just five minutes remaining, the game was disrupted by a 106 minute stoppage due to weather warning, and James admitted it was difficult to handle: “It wasn’t probably the most enjoyable. We got to 85 minutes and then had to sit and wait for, I don’t know, a long period.

“It was quite disruptive, you know, when you’re in the flow of the game. Lots of substitutions, you know, trying to get warm and stay warm. It was difficult, the climate was very hot and humid, and the pitch wasn’t the greatest.”

Chelsea went into the stoppage 1-0 up but Angel Di Maria equalised with a penalty right before the full-time whistle. Christopher Nkunku then scored in the second period of added time, eliciting huge celebrations from the players and Enzo Maresca. The Blues would go on to score twice more to seal the victory.

The 25-year-old was clear that this competition means a lot to Chelsea: “Of course, I mean, we’re in a stage of a tournament where you win, you carry on, you lose, you go home. It’s knockout football. We got so close in 90 minutes and we fell short. And yeah, we managed to do it in extra time.”

Chelsea now face Palmeiras in Philadelphia on Saturday in the quarter-final, and know that a win could set up an all-English semi-final against Manchester City.

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