Liam Delap makes Chelsea claim on night to forget for FIFA’s Club World Cup

Chelsea beat LAFC in their Club World Cup opener – but it was a bad night for FIFA as nearly 50,000 seats were left empty as fans stayed away at the Mercedes Benz Stadium

Liam Delap insisted he is up for a fight after making a winning start to his Chelsea career. But it was a bad night for FIFA’s Club World Cup as nearly 50,000 seats were left empty as fans stayed away at the Mercedes Benz Stadium.

Just 22,137 fans turned up in the 71,000 capacity stadium to see Chelsea beat Los Angeles FC thanks to goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez.

Chelsea substitute Delap, who made his debut as a second half substitute, provided the assist for Fernandez and the £30m striker made it clear he is ready to battle Nicolas Jackson to become the first choice No9.

Delap said: “It’s a really happy feeling for me. I’m so excited to be here and to play my first game and be able to contribute is a good feeling.

“The team has welcomed me really well. I have only had a few sessions here but I am excited for more.” Delap says he wants to provide assists and goals and admits that it is always a battle to win a place in the Premier League.

READ MORE: FIFA bosses left red-faced as Club World Cup issue becomes clearer in Chelsea matchREAD MORE: Chelsea’s £97m Club World Cup bid off to slow start as FIFA suffer humiliating blow

He added: “Yes of course it is good to help the team but I want to score some as well. It is always good to have competition, this is football. It is an incredible club and it is always going to be incredibly hard but you have to thrive off the competition.”

Chelsea defender Tosin Adarabioyo insisted that the players were not concerned about the low attendance. He said: “We were just focused on the game and what happened on the pitch.”

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca added: “Absolutely happy with Liam. The good thing about Liam, he knows the way we want to play, so the process is quite quick.

“Very good result. At this stage of the season, it’s normal you have to manage these kind of things. Overall, the performance was good, and we won the game.

“We need to recover. We have a game in three days [against Flamengo]. For sure, we are going to try to prepare the game in the best way and try to win.”

On the atmosphere, Maresca said: “The environment was a bit strange. The stadium was almost empty, not full. No doubt we know that the next one will be nice because Brazilian teams bring a lot of fans.”

On the battle between Jackson and Delap, the Blues boss added: “I’m curious to see how Nico reacted from that. I’m encouraged to see how Nico deals with the competition. Both are very good No 9s and hopefully both can score goals and assist like today.”

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