Liam Delap picked up an assist on his Chelsea debut as the Blues began their 2025 Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory over MLS side Los Angeles FC, in front of a scant crowd of 22,137 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (capacity: 71,000) on Monday.
MORE — Club World Cup schedule & results
Delap, who signed from Ipswich Town for $40 million this summer, came off the bench in the 64th minute and had his first goal involvement 15 minutes into his first game. The 22-year-old striker got on the end of Cole Palmer’s through ball on the right flank, and lifted and curled a perfect cross into the path of Enzo Fernandez at the top of the six. The pass looked easy — it wasn’t — but the finish certainly was, as Fernandez received the ball and poked it past Hugo Lloris without any defensive pressure.
That goal only made it 2-0 in the 79th minute, but Chelsea had been ahead since the 34th. Pedro Neto timed his run in behind LAFC’s defense to perfection and Nicolas Jackson got the ball away just in time. Neto raced into the penalty area, cut inside and beat Lloris at his near post.
The victory puts Chelsea top of Group D before Flamengo (Brazil) and ES Tunis (Tunisia) play later on Monday. Chelsea will be back in action against Flamengo on Friday (2 pm ET), and LAFC will face ES Tunis at 6 pm ET.
Chelsea vs LAFC live updates – by Andy Edwards
Chelsea vs LAFC final score: 2-0
Goalscorers: Pedro Neto (34′), Enzo Fernandes (79′)
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 LAFC: Enzo brings down Delap’s cross and scores (79′)
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 LAFC: Neto finishes after Jackson plays him through (34′)
Chelsea starting lineup
Sanchez – James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella – Caicedo, Lavia, Palmer – Neto, Madueke, Jackson
LAFC starting lineup
Lloris – Palencia, Long, Segura, Hollingshead – Jesus, Delgado, Tillman – Ordaz, Bouanga, Ebobisse
How to watch Chelsea vs LAFC live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 3pm ET Monday (June 16)
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Atlanta, Georgia
TV Channel/Streaming: Watch live on DAZN, for free
Enzo Maresca’s side ended the season on a high as they won the Europa Conference League trophy and finished fourth in the Premier League to secure Champions League qualification on the final day of the 2024-25 season. Their focus now switches to the Club World Cup, where they will be among the favorites to win it all. Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez will all play starring roles, while new signing Liam Delap aims to hit the ground running and grab the starting No. 9 spot.
LAFC beat Club America in a play-off to qualify for this tournament after Club Leon were barred from entering the competition due to ownership rules with their ownership group also owning Pachuca. Steve Cherundolo’s LAFC are extremely dangerous on the counter attack and have some very exciting young players, as well as a sprinkling of veterans in Olivier Giroud, Hugo Lloris and Ryan Hollingshead. LAFC are flying the MLS flag in this competition along with the Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami, and American soccer fans hope the trio can cause plenty of upsets along the way against club giants from across the globe.
Chelsea team news, focus
New Chelsea signings Liam Delap, Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr could all make their debuts, as Enzo Maresca is going to go all out to win this competition. Most of Chelsea’s players have only just linked up with the squad after international duty, so it will be intriguing to see who is given a bit of a break at the start of the tournament.
OUT: Wesley Fofana (hamstring), Mykhailo Mudryk (suspended)
LAFC team news, focus
Speaking ahead of the match, LAFC’s general manager John Thorrington was excited about the challenge but realistic about the chances of the MLS side causing a huge upset: “I think it is right to view us as underdogs… What I hope that Chelsea and Flamengo and Tunis and all these teams – I hope they walk off the field with a great level of respect as to the quality of our players and the intensity and the commitment of our players. And if we walk off the pitch every game with that, we will be proud and I trust that the results will fall our way.”
Olivier Giroud will feature up top LAFC against his former club, while goalkeeper Hugo Lloris knows Chelsea extremely well from his decade at their rivals Spurs. Watch out for Denis Bouanga, Yaw Yeboah and Timothy Tillman.
Chelsea vs LAFC prediction
This feels like it’s going to be a lot closer than most people think but Chelsea’s quality, probably off the bench, will make the difference in the end. Chelsea 2-1 LAFC.
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