The second quarterfinal of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup pits English Premier League club Chelsea against Brazil’s Palmeiras.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at whether the match-up is a repeat of the 2021 final, which the Blues won 2-1 in the United Arab Emirates.
Chelsea picked up wins against Los Angeles and ES Tunis in the group stage to seal their qualification for the knockout rounds, although they did slip to a 3-1 defeat to another Brazilian club, Flamengo, to concede the top spot.
That handed the Blues a tricky all-European round of 16 tie against Benfica, which required extra time for the London-based club to progress with a 4-1 win.
A two-hour delay, with Chelsea leading 1-0 with four minutes of normal time to play, for nearby lightning was far from ideal in what has already proved a draining summer tournament.
Two draws, against Corinthians and Porto, and a final match win against Al Ahly were enough for Palmeiras to progress to the last 16 of the tournament.
The cost of finishing second in the group, behind Porto, meant an all-Brazilian tie with Botafogo in the first knockout round.
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Paulinho came off the bench to score the only goal of the game in extra time to send Palmeiras through.
The winners of the first quarterfinal between Brazil’s Fluminense and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, played earlier in the day, await the winners of the second last-eight tie.
Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund complete the quarterfinal lineup, with the winners of those ties facing each other in the semifinals.
Chelsea captain Reece James’s pre-match thoughts
“We’ve come a long way. It was difficult to be so close to the end of the match and then have a kick in the teeth like that when we lost a late goal. We had to pick ourselves up and brush ourselves down – and to then score a few goals in extra time after the delay probably shows how far we’ve come, and everyone has played a part.”
Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira’s pre-match thoughts
“Never give up, never give in. All the time, we work for this. I would like to say thank you to my players for all their efforts. We had an amazing game against Botafogo. When we needed to suffer, we suffered together with one player less. We deserved it because we work a lot.”
