Joao Pedro scored a brace against his boyhood club in his first start for his new team, leading Chelsea into the FIFA Club World Cup final with a 2-0 semifinal victory over Fluminense on Tuesday afternoon in East Rutherford, N.J.
The 23-year-old declined to celebrate either emphatic tally in just his second appearance for the Blues, one that propelled the London side into their second major international final in three months.
After winning the UEFA Europa Conference League final 4-1 over Real Betis on May 28 in Wroclaw, Poland, Chelsea on Sunday will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Both those matches are also in New Jersey.
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 he was off to England to play first with Watford and then Brighton and Hove Albion. Then this summer, he made a move to Chelsea for a reported $82 million transfer fee.
He debuted off the bench in Chelsea’s second-round win over Palmeiras last Friday in Philadelphia, and in his first start Tuesday required only 18 minutes to put his former club behind.
He created the attack himself, winning the ball back quickly in the midfield and playing Pedro Neto down the right.
Neto’s low cross into the box was cleared only as far as Joao Pedro at the edge of the box, where he took two quick touches before bending a brilliant right-footed finish beyond Fabio and into the top right corner.
The finish on his second score in the 56th minute was even better.
After reaching Enzo Fernandez’s outlet ball down the left, Joao 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 Fabio’s goal.
Between those tallies, Fluminense saw two crucial chances break against them later in the first half.
In the 26th minute, Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella slid to clear Hercules’ effort off the goal line with Robert Sanchez 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.
–Field Level Media
