Chelsea response to storm setback ‘shows how far we’ve come’ – Reece James

Captain Reece James felt Chelsea showed great character to overcome an extraordinary storm delay to see off Benfica and reach the Club World Cup quarter-finals.

Chelsea were forced back into their dressing room for almost two hours after a thunderstorm interrupted their last-16 tie against the Portuguese giants in Charlotte with just four minutes remaining.

The Blues had been leading 1-0 at the time courtesy of a superb James free-kick, but Benfica hit back to equalise with a controversial Angel Di Maria penalty after play finally resumed.

That took the clash to extra time, but the sending-off of Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni proved critical and Chelsea ran out 4-1 winners with goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Chelsea can now look forward to a last-eight encounter with Palmeiras in Philadelphia on Friday, but it was the storm delay that was the main talking point at the Bank of America Stadium.

It was the latest of a series of games in the tournament to have been paused because of extreme weather – a situation described as a “joke” by Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, who also questioned whether the United States was a suitable host.

James told the club’s website: “It was a very difficult game with a lot of interruptions. The climate wasn’t the best, the pitch wasn’t the best. It was very slow and hard to play.

“You get to 85 minutes and then the game has to be stopped for a long period of time. It takes a lot out of the players. They cool down and then they need to restart that engine again.

“It’s tough, but we’re happy we got the job done. To be so close to the end and then have a kick in the teeth, but pick yourself up and dust yourself down and go on again to score three goals – I think it probably shows how far we’ve come.”

Until the weather changed the atmosphere, James’ 64th-minute strike had looked like being the winner.

Benfica had been expecting the defender to cross from wide on the left, but James instead whipped a curling right-footed shot over the wall and in at the near post.

He said: “When I was walking over I spoke to the centre-halves and said, ‘What do you want?’

“They just said a shot-cross inswinger. I said, ‘No problem’. Then I got to the ball and I saw the keeper’s position. He showed me too much of the goal so I just decided to shoot.”

With a six-day gap before their next fixture, Maresca has said he will now give the players a couple of days off before beginning preparations to face Palmeiras.