Chelsea will face Los Angeles FC at the FIFA Club World Cup later this month after the MLS outfit secured a place in the competition in dramatic fashion on Saturday night. Denis Bouanga fired LAFC to a 2-1 win over Club América in a play-off match at the BMO Stadium, finding the net late in extra-time.
Brian Rodríguez broke the deadlock on the hour mark, beating Hugo Lloris from 12 yards. In the final minutes, Igor Jesus netted an equaliser – rising above his marker to head the ball past Luis Malagón and to send the tie to extra-time.
A penalty shootout loomed, but Giroud stepped up to the plate. Bouanga played a one-two with the ex-Chelsea and Arsenal striker on the edge of the opposition box, before his deflected strike left Malagón rooted to the spot.
LAFC will now join Enzo Maresca’s team, Flamengo and ES Tunis in Group D of the Club World Cup, which starts in the United States in a couple of weeks. Chelsea are set to face Giroud’s side on June 16 before playing the Brazilian giants and the Tunisian outfit on June 20 and June 25, respectively.
Speaking to reporters after the dramatic tie, Bouanga said: “It’s simply one of the best moments of my career.
“I love this team, and I love this game. It’s a great achievement and the opportunity of a lifetime. It really opens up some doors for our club.”
Meanwhile, the LAFC boss, Steve Cherundolo, told ESPN: “[This] probably is the best performance of the season, even though there were mistakes made.
“But I think to be able to go down and to come back and to score and always be dangerous, and to manage the game like we did… It means to us as a group, the players, coaches, an enormous amount of togetherness.”
“As a club, I think that it puts you above and beyond many, many other clubs in the MLS, I think it puts you in a different level, and it’s also a help for the entire league, of putting the league on the map at the Club World Cup with one more team.”
Giroud will, of course, have the opportunity to reunite with some of his former Chelsea team-mates – something that he dreamed of before the match. As quoted by the MailOnline ahead of the play-off tie, the Frenchman said: “When we won the Champions League with Chelsea, I then left for AC Milan the year after.
“It could be nice to meet Chelsea again, but obviously this will be a massive game at the weekend against Club America. We play home, we need to start the game in a really strong way, with a good rhythm, strong intensity, and play with our qualities.
“I’m pretty sure the boys understand the importance of the game for the club, and for ourselves, and we need to grab this opportunity to play this competition.”
In the meantime, Enzo Maresca will hoping to take a look at Liam Delap once Chelsea wrap up their deal for the Ipswich Town striker. football.london understands that the Blues are now increasingly likely to sign the 22-year-old this summer.
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