Chelsea cruise past Monterrey

Chelsea eased into the final of the Club World Cup with a comfortable 3-1 win over Monterrey in Yokohama.

Last Updated: 13/12/12 at 20:47 Post Comment

Juan Mata celebrates his opener for Chelsea against Monterrey

Juan Mata celebrates his opener for Chelsea against Monterrey

Juan Mata set Chelsea on their way with the opener in the first half and two quick-fire second half goals from Fernando Torres and an unfortunate own goal from Darvin Chavez earned the UEFA Champions League holders victory.

Chelsea will now face South American champions Corinthians in Sunday's final.

David Luiz, who started in an unfamiliar midfield role, created Chelsea's first chance of the game when his brilliant pass sent Eden Hazard in on goal down the left, but the Belgian curled his shot just wide of the far post.

Monterrey almost gifted Chelsea the opener on 13 minutes when Severo Meza made a mess of a back pass and almost allowed Oscar to steal in before managing to clear the danger for a corner. From the resulting kick Mata picked out Branislav Ivanovic unmarked inside the box, but the defender headed his effort wide of the target.

Chelsea did make the breakthrough four minutes later with a fine effort from the in-form Mata. Ashley Cole played a neat one-two with Oscar, with the Brazilian cleverly flicking the ball back into the path of the full-back, who in turn picked out Mata inside the box and the Spaniard drilled home his left-footed shot to claim his 11th goal of the season.

Monterrey came close to drawing level on 27 minutes with their first noteworthy attack of the game when Jesus Corona beat Cesar Azpilicueta down the left and crossed for Aldo de Nigris who beat Petr Cech to the ball, but could only flick his header over the crossbar.

Chelsea came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half and scored two goals in three minutes right after the restart to put the game beyond the Mexican side.

Hazard was the creator of the second goal as he burst past the full-back and cut the ball back for Torres who saw his shot take a massive deflection to totally wrongfoot Jonathan Orozco in the Monterrey goal.

Chelsea made it 3-0 on 48 minutes as Torres got down the left and picked out Mata at the far post and his effort was deflected into his own net by the unfortunate Chavez.

Rafa Benitez's side were threatening to run riot and Hazard almost added a fourth goal two minutes later as he beat two defenders before seeing his shot saved by Orozco.

Frank Lamapard came off the bench just past the hour mark and he was straight into the action as he sent an effort from the edge of the box just wide of the target.

Monterrey pushed forward in search of a consolation goal in the closing stages and they got it in added time as de Nigris got clear and lifted his shot over Cech, but it mattered little as Chelsea coasted into the final.

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