Fluminense 0-2 Chelsea: New boy Joao Pedro bags brilliant brace against former side to fire Blues into Club World Cup final

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 either Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain in New Jersey this Sunday.

We can understand Joao Pedro’s fondness for Fluminense, at least. The 23-year-old did not simply spend six months on loan there once upon a time. They found him, raised him, turned him into the £55million striker he now is.

Joao Pedro is practically paying for himself, 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 arrived in the 18th minute when he collected Thiago Silva’s tame clearance and curled the ball beautifully into the corner from 25 yards. His second was in the 56th minute 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 into the starting line-up after a week of working with him. 

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, with Nicolas Jackson benched and Liam Delap suspended.

The conversation surrounding Jackson’s future can wait for another day. Joao Pedro and the immediate impact he is having is the story today.

This semi-final was played in the 35C afternoon heat of New Jersey and resembled a ‘lads versus dads’ game 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.

The 23-year-old did not hesitate as he fired beyond Fluminense’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio.

While Joao Pedro did not celebrate out of respect for his old employers, everyone else did. Even a few Fluminense fans were applauding his brilliance.

The Brazilians thought they had levelled when Hercules broke behind after a one-two. 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, the Brazilians were awarded a penalty for a handball by Trevoh Chalobah. But Chelsea’s luck was in as the French referee, Francois Letexier, overturned his original decision at his pitch-side monitor.

In the 56th minute, Cole Palmer carried the ball forward. There were perhaps three fouls committed on the Chelsea playmaker but play continued as Joao Pedro picked up possession.

He 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.