Chelsea Overcome Delay, Set Up Palmeiras Quarters

Chelsea beat Benfica in a game which went on for close to five hours at the Club World Cup on Saturday to set up a quarter-final showdown with Brazilian side Palmeiras at the tournament in the United States.

- Agencies

PHILADELPHIA:

The London club were grateful to extra-time goals by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to give them a 4-1 victory over Benfica.

Their late burst of scoring settled a last-16 tie which took four hours, 39 minutes to complete at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina after a near two-hour weather delay.

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was left satisfied with his team's victory but slammed the delay that turned the tie into a near five-hour marathon. "I think it's a joke, it's not football," Maresca said. "For 85 minutes we were in control of the game. We created enough chances to win the game. Then after the break, the game changed -- for me personally, it's not football."