Chelsea‘s João Pedro marked his first start in spectacular fashion on Tuesday, scoring twice to send the Premier League side into the Club World Cup final with a 2-0 victory over his boyhood club Fluminense.
The 23-year-old Brazilian forward, signed from Brighton & Hove Albion for £60 million ($81.5 million) last week, curled home a fabulous strike in the 18th minute before sealing the win with a brilliant finish following a counter-attack early in the second half at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Chelsea will face Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germainwho meet in the second semifinal on Wednesday, in Sunday’s final.
“I’m happy to score my first goal, but also I know this tournament is very important for them,” he said. “I can’t just say sorry, but I have to be professional. I play for Chelsea. They pay me for that to score goals. And today I was happy to score.”
Fluminense of Rio de Janeiro is the final non-European team to be eliminated in a tournament where all four Brazilian entrants reached the knockout phase, including two that reached the quarterfinals.
After previously appearing in the 2023 final of the Club World Cup’s previous, smaller format, their return was prevented by one of their own.
Pedro came up through Fluminense’s youth academy, but after 25 appearances in the Brazilian top flight in 2019 was off to England to play first with Watford and then Brighton. He then made a move to Chelsea this summer.
He debuted off the bench in Chelsea’s second-round win over Palmeiras in Philadelphia last Friday. And in his first start Tuesday, he required only 18 minutes to put his former club behind.
He created the attack himself, winning the ball back quickly in midfield and playing Pedro Neto down the right. Neto’s low cross into the box was cleared only as far as Pedro at the edge of the box, where he took two quick touches before bending a brilliant right-footed finish beyond Fábio and into the top right corner.
The finish on his second strike in the 56th minute was even better.
After reaching Enzo Fernández‘s outlet ball down the left, Pedro dribbled into the left side of the box, cut back across one Fluminense defender to improve his shooting angle, then fired in another ferocious strike that caught the underside of the crossbar on its way into Fábio’s goal.
Between those goals, Fluminense saw two crucial chances break against them later in the first half.
In the 26th minute, Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella slid to clear Hércules’ effort off the goal line with Robert Sánchez Beaten.
In the 36th, referee Francois Letexier overruled his own penalty decision following a video review, deciding after consulting replay that Trevoh Chalobah‘s arm had been in a natural position next to his body.
European teams will win their 12th straight Club World Cup title and 17th in 18 tries, the lone exception being a 2012 victory by Brazil’s Corinthians over Chelsea, who won in 2021.
Chelsea have earned between $88,435,000 to $103,815,000 for reaching the final, with the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.
Despite a 3 p.m. local time kickoff amid high summer temperatures on the east coast of the U.S., more than 70,000 fans filled the NFL home of the New York Jets and Giants to watch the semifinal.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this recap.
