BREAKING: Chelsea reach Club World Cup final after beating Ighalo’s Al Hilal

Romelu Lukaku ensured Chelsea progressed into the Club World Cup final on Wednesday evening.

The Belgian international shook off some early misses to fire home from point-blank range just after the half an hour mark.

The only major trophy missing from the club’s trophy cabinet in the modern era, much of the noise around Chelsea this week has been just how seriously they were taking the competition.

⌚️The End of #ClubWC semifinal 🔚
Chelsea 1-0 #AlHilal
Good luck Asia’s Leader next time 💙#AlHilal_Chelsea ⚽️#AlHilal_inWorldCup 🌍 pic.twitter.com/mFijeJYYmN

— AlHilal Saudi Club (@Alhilal_EN) February 9, 2022

Largely, that was reflected in the first-half performance, with Thomas Tuchel’s team pressing high up the pitch and looking to contain the opposition even in their manager’s absence.

Lukaku, so often criticised this season, showed signs of getting back to his best. Granted, the level of the opposition does play into that but the Belgian’s ability to drift onto the side right flank and drive at Odion Ighalo’s Al Hilal was reminiscent of his best days at Inter Milan.

Read Also: EPL: Lampard tells Everton players to focus on themselves

Alongside him, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz worked well as all three attackers took up a wider range of positions, hinting at some level of coherence at last.

Still, there were worries. As the second-half progressed, Kepa was called into action far more often and produced world class save to deny Kanno an equaliser from just outside the box after some slick build-up play.

In the end, the winning machine that has been Chelsea during the Roman Abramovich era just about made it into yet another final.