BLUES ENJOY THE QUIET LIFE

Maresca's men start with win in near-empty stadium

- From John Cross in Atlanta

IT WAS not the spectacular showpiece FIFA had been hoping for.

Just 22,137 fans turned up and most probably wished they had not bothered because Chelsea hardly set the world alight.

Pedro Neto got the ball rolling with a first-half opener before Chelsea substitute Liam Delap marked his debut with an assist to set up Enzo Fernandez to seal the win. But this was far from the all-singing, all-dancing spectacle we had been promised and instead we got what felt like a pre-season friendly, with tired players in front of a stadium not even a third full.

Well, what do you expect if you put a game on at 3pm on a Monday afternoon? Funnily enough, most people are at work. It just looks bad because the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is one of America's truly great stadiums, as it holds 71,000 fans and cost over £1billion to build.