Chelsea storm to victory after two-hour delay

CAPTAIN Reece James felt Chelsea showed great character to overcome an extraordinary storm delay to see off Benfica and reach the Club World Cup quarter-finals.

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Chelsea were forced back into their dressing room for almost two hours after a thunderstorm interrupted their last-16 tie against the Portuguese giants in Charlotte with just four minutes remaining.

The Blues had been leading 1-0 at the time courtesy of a superb James free-kick, but Benfica hit back to equalise with a controversial Angel Di Maria penalty after play finally resumed.

That took the clash to extra time, but the sending-off of Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni proved critical and Chelsea ran out 4-1 winners with goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.