Joao Pedro twice stood apologetically with his arms in the air, not wanting Fluminense’s fans to think he was being disrespectful. It was a shame in a way.
The two goals he scored here – his first for Chelsea amid an exhibition of finesse and explosion – warranted celebrations. They fired Chelsea into the Club World Cup final, where they will Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain in New Jersey this Sunday, apparently in front of President Trump.
We can understand Joao Pedro’s fondness for Fluminense, at least. The 23-year-old Brazilian did not simply spend six months on loan there. They found him, raised him, turned him into the £55million striker he now is.
He is practically paying for himself, too, given this win banked Chelsea an additional £22m on top of the £60m they had already secured by participating in FIFA’s United States jamboree.
His first strike came when he collected Thiago Silva’s tame clearance and curled the ball beautifully into the corner from 25 yards. His second arrived as he completed a counter-attack with FIFA’s analysts clocking his rocket at 75mph.
Enzo Maresca has told us time and again that newbies need time; one does not simply throw an Andrey Santos or Mamadou Sarr into the starting line-up after a week of working with him.
Joao Pedro twice stood apologetically with his arms in the air after netting against his former side
The Brazilian’s second, a thunderous drive off the crossbar, effectively ended the contest before the hour
Pedro, who completed a £55m move to Chelsea just last week, lapped up the acclaim of his new colleagues
Joao Pedro is the exception, however. This time last week, he was a Brighton player holidaying on a beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Now, he has made his first start under Maresca and scored, with Nicolas Jackson benched and Liam Delap suspended.
Joao Pedro said: ‘it was a dream. I don’t think it could have been better. I can just say sorry (to Fluminense) but I have to be professional. I play for Chelsea. They pay me to score goals.’
Maresca added: ’Premier League top four, we won the Conference League and now we are in a final here, it is fantastic. Finally we have the last game of the season and hopefully we can win it.’
This semi-final was played in the 35C afternoon heat of New Jersey and resembled ‘lads versus dads’ as the average age of Chelsea’s line-up was 25 years and 120 days to Fluminense’s 31 years and 263 days. Silva is now 40 and when he cleared Pedro Neto’s cross in the 18th minute, it left Joao Pedro in possession outside of the box. He did not hesitate as he fired beyond Fluminense’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio.
While Joao Pedro did not celebrate out of respect, everyone else did. Even a few Fluminense fans were applauding.
The Brazilians thought they had levelled when Hercules broke behind. He beat Robert Sanchez but not Marc Cucurella as Chelsea’s left back cleared on the line.
In the 34th minute, Joao Pedro conceded a dangerous free-kick with a naughty challenge on Ignacio. From that, Fluminense were awarded a penalty for a handball by Trevoh Chalobah. But Chelsea’s luck was in as Francois Letexier overturned his original decision at his monitor.
In the 56th minute, Cole Palmer carried the ball forward. There were perhaps three fouls committed on the Chelsea playmaker but play continued. Joao Pedro cut inside and, with an almighty blast, scored again off the underside of the crossbar.
As before, there was no celebration. Job done, he was replaced by Jackson with Chelsea now one win away from being crowned world champions. The only downside was an injury to Moises Caicedo which forced him off the field.
Joao Pedro opened the scoring with a stunning effort from range after only 18 minutes at the MetLife Stadium
Fluminense thought they’d been given a route back into the contest when the referee awarded a penalty but the decision was reversed after review
Marc Cucurella kept the Brazilian outfit at bay with a last-ditch clearance off the line before the break
