Charlotte – The most absurd game of this club world championship lasted 4 hours and 38 minutes between regular times, suspension for storm and additional risk. Practically a final of Wimbledon. Started at 16:00, local time, ended at 20:38.
And the Chelseawhich at the end of the regulatory times was reached by Benfica on 1-1, but which in the extra-time marked three goals. Palmeiras will meet in the quarterfinals.
Fans fled and returned
Final result: Benfica 1 and Chelsea 4. But it is not the score the most remarkable thing of a race that will be remembered forever, between fled fans and then ran to the stadiumpolicemen and tickets that have turned to the other side allowing access to anyone who wished, and supporters of the two teams that ended up embracing each other in the stands, equally exhausted after almost five hours of passion.
The English advantage and suspension
The game started at 16:00, local time, and was suspended at 86 ‘. A few drops of rain have fallen on Charlotte, but in this tournament the rule provides for the suspension of the race In case of lightning less than 10 km away. At the time of suspension, Chelsea was winning 1-0, thanks to a network marked by James at 64 ‘. The stadium, already half empty at the beginning of the game, has further emptied: very difficult, thousands of spectators have thought, which Benfica can recover in the few minutes that remain to be played, in the event of the shooting of the game.
The recovery 4 hours after the starting whistle
The last minutes of the race were played starting from 19:47, after the OK by the American authorities. And after the resumption of the game, in the almost deserted stadium, the referee whistled a penalty in favor of the Benfica For a hand of hand of bad taste. When Mary marked from the spot, the fifth minute of recovery had already begun. At that point, at the three referee’s whistles, it was now 19:56. From the beginning of the game, taking into account the long suspension, Almost four hours had passed.
The return of the fans to the stadium
Many of the fans who had left the stadium during the suspension for rain – and that in the meantime had scattered among the bars of the center of Charlotte – once the news of the resumption of the match, and the draw of the Portuguese, have been received, they have returned to the Bank of America Stadium to attend additional times. Steward and policemen, in front of the fans who ran, were made aside to allow them to see what remained of the game, without wasting time.
Chelsea’s three goals in the final
The show to which the very few fans remained inside the system, and those who managed to return is of those who do not forget: between the 108 ‘and 117’ minute the Chelsea scored three other networks, with The chicken, Pedro Neto in Dewsbury-Hall. The expulsion of Prestianni, who left Benfica in ten. “In some way this strange game enters the history of football and I am very happy to have been there. I’m sorry that it has not happened in Champions LeagueI would have cried all my tears, but I am satisfied with the emotions I felt, “he says, leaving the Phil stadium, Londonse residing in Atlanta, who arrived affixed to Charlotte to see a game that he will never forget.
