Lukaku fires Chelsea into final with Tuchel taking a remote interest
THOMAS TUCHEL delivered half-time words of wisdom to his team despite being holed up in Covid isolation in Surrey — and even though they didn’t have the desired dynamic effect, nervous Chelsea stumbled over the line to earn the chance to be crowned world champions this weekend. Romelu Lukaku struck his first goal for a month to overcome Asian champions Al Hilal at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Yet Chelsea will need to improve considerably to win FIFA’s Club World Cup for the first time in their history when they face Brazilians Palmeiras on Saturday. What initially looked like a straightforward task became unexpectedly arduous as Chelsea faded in the second half and Al Hilal, led by former Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim, surged in confidence. Ultimately, Kepa’s excellence in goal spared Chelsea the challenge of extra time but
Al Hilal, bolstered by the likes of Odion Ighalo — previously of Manchester United — and Matheus Pereira, signed from West Brom in August, made them sweat in the desert. With Tuchel only able to fly out on Friday if he tests negative, his assistant Zsolt Low stepped into the coach’s role but consulted the manager at half-time in a bid to boost a sluggish display. ‘We talked to Thomas at half-time and had a good conversation,’ said Low. ‘He had the same feeling that we were a little nervous and had a lot of easy ball losses. ‘We talked about telling the guys to calm down, find the rhythm and not fight so hard for hard solutions.’ Although the game clearly wasn’t quite the global draw FIFA imagine — the stadium being slightly over half full with a crowd of 19,175 — the
atmosphere was boisterous and intense. The Al Hilal fans, from Riyadh in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, made enough clamour to cover for the empty seats and by the end, with Jardim’s side pressing for an equaliser, Chelsea looked a little lost amid the fervent crowd. Lukaku eventually proved the match winner, which he will count as a welcome boost in his troubled return to the club. That said, he might have had a first-half hat-trick had he been a touch sharper. He fluffed his lines on 18 minutes, when Cesar Azpilicueta’s surging run down the right and cross presented him with a close-range opportunity. Instead of lightly touching the ball over the goalkeeper, he produced an air shot. Lukaku had his moment on 32 minutes, although it had as much to do with abysmal defending as it did clinical finishing. Kai Havertz created the chance by racing down the left. When his cross missed its intended target, hapless defender Yasir Al-Shahrani clumsily stabbed an attempted clearance straight to Lukaku, standing in the six-yard box, who fairly broke the net with the ferocity of his strike from three yards out. Chelsea looked to have the second half under control, despite losing Jorginho at half-time, with N’Golo Kante coming on. Havertz surged down the left to lift the ball over Saudi keeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf, yet hit the post from a tight angle on 49 minutes. But Al Hilal certainly tested Chelsea once the hour had passed, as they hunted for an equaliser in earnest. Pereira slid a lovely pass in for Moussa Marega on 63 minutes which Kepa did well to smother. And Kepa did even better on 68 minutes to deny Mohamed Kanno, whose fierce shot from 20 yards saw the Basque keeper diving spectacularly to his left to tip away the strike. Chelsea hung on, denying Al Hilal clear-cut chances thereafter. But they had worked harder than they would have imagined — with their manager watching on from afar.