No surprises in Abu Dhabi. At least so far. We got the epilogue we expected at the end of the World Club Championship. Chelsea will play against Palmeiras in the final, as they defeated Al Hilal in the second match of the semifinals – 1:0 (1:0). The tradition continues, as for the 17th consecutive time, the European champion will fight for the trophy of the world club champion. And as in most cases, his rival will be a club from the South American continent, objectively speaking the second in quality in the world of football. Interestingly, only three of those 17 finals were lost by teams from the ‘Old Continent’, and one of the losers was Chelsea, when Corinthians won exactly ten years ago.Chelsea are in the #ClubWorldCup final! 😁 pic.twitter.com/Jlsi7Dpw1G— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 9, 2022 Romelu Lukaku was the man of the moment, as the Belgian scored the winning goal in the 32nd minute, breaking the five-goal goalless streak in all competitions. Last time Lukaku scored was a month ago against Chesterfield in a convincing triumph in the FA Cup, and counting the first 30 minutes of this match, he was exactly 500 minutes without a goal in all competition.He didn’t thrilled the fans with his game tonight either, however, at the end of half an hour of the game, he found himself at the right place to to finish the action started by Mateo Kovačić and continued by Kai Havertz. It was a simple tap-in after the ball bounced off Al Hilal defender. The Belgian was at the centerpiece of some really good chances created by Chelsea, but he failed to use them. Thomas Tuchel fielded out basically the strongest team. The German tactician didn’t want to calculate, or underestimate the rival, but his players seemed to have already attributed the victory to themselves at half time, just like against Plymouth for the weekend in the FA Cup. So, Al Hilal took the initiative in the middle of the second part of the game. Igalo – Pereira – Marega, the attacking trio of Asian champions who build their careers in Europe, was, as expected, the biggest threat to Kepa Arizabalaga’s goal in that period. The Spanish goalkeeper didn’t have much to do during the game, but in those fifteen or twenty minutes, he did his job at the highest level, as he does when he gets the chance lately.The closest to the equalizer was Al Hilal in the 69th minute when Mohamed Keno shot strongly and accurately from the edge of the penalty area on the return pass of Odion Igalo, but Kepa turned the ball into a corner with an excellent intervention. After surviving the strongest blow of Jardim’s team, the London team regained control of the game in the last twenty minutes, but Palmeiras will not spare him in the final if the same case happens to Chelsea for the third time.FIFA CLUB WORLD CUPTuesday:Palmeiras – Al Ahly 2-0 (1-0)/Veiga 39, Dudu 49/Wednesday:Monterrey – Al-Jazira 3-1 (3-0)/Sultan 4(og), Mori 11, Montes 25 – Oliveira 90+1/Al-Hilal – Chelsea 0-1 (0-1)/Lukaku 32/
