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EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — João Pedro kept the celebrations to a minimum after scoring twice to send Chelsea into the Club World Cup final, his goals proving the undoing of his former club Fluminense in a bittersweet meeting at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old Brazilian forward, who joined Chelsea from Brighton & Hove Albion six days ago, found the net in the 18th minute with a superb strike and again early in the second half with another excellent finish to seal his team’s 2-0 victory and passage to the final.
He held his hands up apologetically after each strike against the club where he spent his formative years, even as his teammates swarmed around him on the pitch, only briefly cracking a smile after the second goal.
“They [Fluminense] gave everything to me. They showed me to the world. If I’m here, it’s because they believed in me,” said Pedro. “I’m very grateful but this is football — I have to be professional. I feel sorry for them but I have to do my job.”
Pedro made his debut for Chelsea in their 2-1 quarterfinal win over Palmeiras on Friday with only a couple training sessions under his belt. Four days later, he was in the starting team.
“Today I think because I started, I had more time to do my stuff and I had to score. The team won, the team played well and that’s important,” he added in televised remarks.
Pedro joined a month after Chelsea signed Liam Delapas the club moved to plug a forward shortage.
Chelsea face the winner of the second semifinal on Wednesday between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. The final is set for Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Enzo Maresca’s side is looking to build off a successful 2024-25 campaign in which Chelsea finished fourth in the Premier League and won the UEFA Conference League.
Information from Reuters was used in this story.
