Club World Cup 2025 roundup: Flamengo tops Chelsea
Flamengo's Danilo celebrates after scoring during the Club World Cup Group D soccer match between Flamengo and Chelsea in Philadelphia on Friday. Credit: AP
Danilo scored the go-ahead goal in the 65th minute and Flamengo scored three second-half goals to move atop its group at the Club World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Friday in Philadelphia.
Both teams went into the match with three points atop Group D thanks to opening wins. Flamengo became the first team in the field to
advance to the knockout round after Esperance beat LAFC, 1-0, on Friday.
Pedro Neto gave Chelsea the early lead. The ball bounced off a Flamengo defender and Neto gained control, charging toward the goal before putting it away in the 13th minute.
Flamengo drew even in the 62nd on Bruno Henrique’s goal on a tap-in in front of the net. Moments later, the Brazilian giants took the lead off the corner from Danilo.
Wallace Yan all but put the game out of reach for the Blues with a goal in the 83rd.
Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson was sent off with a straight red card for a dangerous tackle in the 68th minute.
Esperance 1, LAFC 0: Yousef Belaili scored in the 70th minute and Esperance de Tunisie beat LAFC in Nashville to remain in contention to advance and eliminate the California MLS team. LAFC had one final chance to tie it in the 99th minute on Denis Bouanaga’s right-footed shot off a penalty kick just in front, but goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said smothered it.
Benfica 6, Auckland City 0:
Ángel Di María and Leandro Barreiro each scored two goals to help Benfica rout Auckland City
in Orlando.
Di María, who teamed with Lionel Messi to win the 2022 World Cup with Argentina, scored his first goal from the penalty spot deep into added time at the end of the first half. His second score, and the team’s sixth, was again from the penalty spot and deep in added time at the end of the match.
Auckland City exchanged counterattacks with the Portuguese powerhouse in the first half of the Group C match but was still outshot 18-1.
The second half went Benfica’s way. Vangelis Pavlidis made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute, Renato Sanches added a third a short time later and Barreiro then scored a pair of goals to increase the lead to 5-0.
More soccer news
