𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has no doubt Liam Delap is going to be a huge success at the club.

Delap scored his first goal since his £30million move from Ipswich as Chelsea beat Esperance Tunis 3-0 in Philadelphia to reach the last 16 of the Club World Cup.

It was the striker’s second start in succession, having made his debut as a substitute in their opening Group D against Los Angeles FC.

With fellow forward Nicolas Jackson still suspended for Saturday’s clash with Benfica in the second round, the 22-year-old has a chance to cement his place in the side.

Maresca told reporters: “We know Liam is going to score goals for us, we don’t have any doubts about that.

“Against Flamengo he had three clear chances to score goals, so that is a good feeling because it means he is there, he is in the right position and doing well.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t score against Flamengo, but he scored here.

“We expect the process to be quite quick with Liam because we know him and he knows us in the way we want to play.”

Chelsea took command against the Tunisians with a quickfire double in first-half stoppage time.

Tosin Adarabioyo opened the scoring with a fine header and Delap followed up moments later by beating two challenges and rolling the ball past statuesque goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said.

Both goals were created by the impressive Enzo Fernandez.

Tyrique George scored a third in time added on at the end of the game with another shot Ben Said should have saved.

The result meant the Blues finished second in Group D behind Flamengo.

They will now head to Charlotte at the weekend to face Benfica, who beat one of the tournament favourites in Bayern Munich to top Group C.

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“We know Benfica is a top club, with a top manager, and top players,” who made eight changes against Esperance largely due to the draining effects of playing and training in the heat.

“It’s going to be tough but from 32 we are now into the round of 16 and our next target is go into the quarter-finals.”

The temperature in Philadelphia was 33C despite the game kicking off at 9pm local time.

Cole Palmer, Marc Cucurella, Pedro Neto, Moises Caicedo and Reece James were among the players benched.

Maresca said: “It’s impossible not to rotate players because playing every three days in these conditions means it’s not possible for them to play every game.

“The ones that played were good and we’ve given some rest to many players. It’s important to recover the energy and try to win the next game.”