Liam Delap scored his first Chelsea goal during their 3-0 win over Tunisian side Esperance Sportive de Tunis to book their place in the next round of the Club World Cup.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca had the luxury, after their 3-1 defeat to Brazilian side Flamengo in which striker Nicolas Jackson received a red card, to make eight changes to his side.
Just Enzo Fernandez, Malo Gusto and Delap kept their place in the team, with the latter netting his first Blues goal and the former bagging a brace of assists.
But, the opener came from an unlikely scorer, with Tosin Adarabioyo heading home from a Fernandez free kick in stoppage time of the first half.
Tosin Adarabioyo bagged Chelsea's first of the game
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Then, just two minutes later, Delap bagged his first goal for the club, demonstrating physicality and the focal point he can bring to Maresca’s side.
Nudging one defender off, then squirming past another and rolling the ball into the bottom corner, it was a goal of high quality and is could be a sign of things to come.
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Liam Delap scored a terrific solo effort to open his account for the Blues
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Referee Yael Falcon Perez gave a penalty to the Blues after an Andrey Santos, who was making his debut for the club, shot deflected off a defender’s hand, but VAR intervened and the decision was overturned.
In the final minute of the game, however, Chelsea would get their third through academy graduate Tyrique George, who let off a stinging shot that goalkeeper Ben Said was unable to keep out.
After the game, Delap reflected on opening his account for the club and his relationship with star midfielder Fernandez.
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He said: “It’s a great feeling. We needed to win today. To get a goal, it’s a special feeling, even more importantly we’re through to the next stage.
“He’s [Fernandez] an incredible player, and we’ve spoken as much as we can. He told me to run when he gets the ball and I did, and he showed today his quality of passing.”
Chelsea boss Maresca was quick to praise his new striker, saying: “We expected the process to be quite quick with Liam and the reason why he is because we know him and he knows us in the way we want to play.
“Liam as I said, we know each other very good so the process is quite quick and then it is also because he is a very good player. Against Flamengo, he had 3 clear chances to score goals so that is already a good feeling because that means already he is there.
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has been impressed by Liam Delap's start at the club so far
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“He is in the right position, he is doing well. Unfortunately, he didn’t score against Flamengo and this time he scored. We know that Liam is going to score goals with us. We don’t have any doubt about that.”
The win secured Chelsea’s place in the next round of the Club World Cup, where they will face Benfica who topped their group.
The Portuguese side are unbeaten at the tournament so far, with their most recent scalp a 1-0 win over German champions Bayern Munich.
The game will be played in Philadelphia, where Maresca had gone on record to say that the heat at the moment made it “impossible” to train.
The Chelsea boss will be hoping the temperatures will have cooled come the weekend, as they ramp up their efforts to be crowned Club World Cup champions.
Chelsea play Benfica on June 28.
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