Chelsea are now just two wins away from silverware after overcoming Palmeiras on Saturday.
Chelsea recorded a deserved 2-1 victory against Brazilian giants Palmeiras in the Club World Cup quarter-finals, which sets up a fascinating semi-final tie against Fluminense.
Blues star Cole Palmer netted a trademark goal to put the Premier League side ahead before Estevao Willian equalised for Palmeiras to stun his future employers. Eventually, a late own goal from Giay Agustin decided the knockout tie.
Enzo Maresca won his first trophy as Chelsea’s head coach back in May, lifting the Conference League after beating Real Betis in the final. His team are now looking to back that up by continuing the winning habit in the Club World Cup.
Chelsea have been taking the Club World Cup seriously, partly because of the financial gains that come from being successful in the tournament.
Cole Palmer labelled too good for Palmeiras by their coach
Abel Ferreira, the Palmeiras manager, admits his side couldn’t get to grips with Chelsea’s Palmer in the quarter-final tie.
“We could never stop Palmer. It was one task our midfielders should do. In some moments they can find spaces between lines. When he received it between lines and faces our goal. It was very good and clever,” Ferreira said, as quoted by journalist Bobby Vincent on X.
Palmer was in the Club World Cup Team of the Week after Chelsea beat Benfica in the Round of 16. Based on his contribution in the quarter-final, he must have a good chance of repeating that feat again.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder pulled the strings for the Blues from his favoured No.10 position against Palmeiras. For instance, he opened the scoring after producing a fabulous turn into a clever pocket of space and a calm finish.
Even though the Englishman’s form has been a bit up and down in 2025, he still produces magical moments in any game of football because of his natural ability.
Now that Palmer wears Chelsea’s No.10, we’re optimistic he can regain his best form to lead this young Blues team.
Superb Cole Palmer statistics vs Palmeiras
Not only did Palmer pass the eye test with flying colours against Palmeiras, but the underlying statistics were super impressive as well.
| Minutes played | Goals | Assists | Total shots | Chances created | Accurate passes | Successful dribbles | Was fouled | Match rating |
| 90 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 32/37 (86%) | 3/4 (75%) | 3 | 8.0 |
As the Palmeiras boss mentioned, Palmer was too good at the weekend. It’s something that he’s capable of doing against any opposition when he’s in the right mood, though.
We’ll be intrigued to see how Thiago Silva and the rest of the Fluminense defence go about trying to nullifying Palmer’s threat in the semi-final showdown next Tuesday.
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