After Two-Hour Weather Delay, Chelsea Outlasts Benfica In Club World Cup Win

Christopher Nkunku scored off a rebound in extra time and Chelsea went on to beat Benfica 4-1 in a Club World Cup Round of 16 match Saturday at Bank of America Stadium that was delayed for two hours due to lightning and took nearly five hours to complete.

Chelsea advances to play Palmeiras in the quarterfinals Friday in Philadelphia. Palmeiras beat Botafogo 1-0 on Saturday.

Nkunku’s tiebreaking goal came in the 108th minute with Benfica playing a man down after Gianluca Prestianni received a red card. Moises Caicedo’s left-footed shot from the left side of the box was saved in the center of the goal by Anatolii Trubin, but an alert Nkunku was there to bury the deflection into the top right corner before being mobbed by teammates.

Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added insurance goals in extra time for the final margin.

Reece James scored on a free kick in the 64th minute to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead.

But with four minutes left, the match was stopped because of lightning and delayed for two hours. When the teams returned, Chelsea was called for a handball in stoppage time when the ball hit Malo Gusto's hand.

Angel Di Maria converted the penalty to even the match.

After dominating most of the first half, the English club finally broke through when the 25-year-old James laced a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

The Portuguese side had a chance to tie it in the 78th minute, but Gianluca Prestianni sent a right-footed shot from the right side of the box just left of the goal. Prestianni held his head in his hands in agony after the miss.

In the closing minutes, players were pulled off the field and fans told to seek cover due to lightning strikes in the area, although it did not rain at the stadium.