Nicolas Jackson hands Chelsea another huge suspension blow after shocking tackle vs Flamengo

Nicolas Jackson has dealt his Chelsea side a huge blow to their chances of Club World Cup success.

The Blues striker was sent off during his team’s second match of the competition against Flamengo in Philadelphia on Friday night.

Chelsea were already losing 2-1 after goals from Bruno Henrique and Danilo, arriving in the 62nd and 65th minutes respectively to erase the half-time lead earned by Pedro Neto scoring after just 13 minutes of the Group D clash.

With Enzo Maresca’s pegged back, Jackson was substituted on for summer signing Liam Delap between Flamengo’s two strikes. In the 68th minute he then handed his team-mates an even bigger task when he lunged into a challenge on Erick Pulgar just four minutes after coming off the bench.

Referee Ivan Barton of El Salvador was stood just metres away and immediately brandished the red card without hesitation.

Jackson seemed to accept his fate having clearly made contact with his opponent above the ankle. Because of this, he will be suspended for one match – the final meeting of the group stage against Esperance Tunis.

Flamengo then went on to wrap up the meeting with another goal from Wallace Yan ensuring Chelsea lost 3-1 to a team managed by their former left-back, Filipe Luis.

This leaves the Blues with work to do looking ahead to their final group stage fixture in the United States.

Friday’s opposition are now Group D leaders having collected all six points available, leaving Maresca’s men in second having won their opener against Los Angeles FC but lost this time out.

To get a better picture of the group before the final round, LAFC must play Tunisian outfit Esperence Tunis with both on zero points prior to kick-off. It could end up that Chelsea need to win to ensure their progression to the knockout stage, and even then they are not guaranteed to top the group.

In the round of 16 they will face a team from Group C, with Benfica, Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors contesting progression.

Jackson was also sent off in the third-from-last match of the 2024/25 Premier League season, meaning he is to miss the first match of the new season as part of a three-game ban.

Afterwards, Maresca commented: “It’s not the moment for me to speak to Nico. In the next day we’ll speak to him. This season is finished for him and he’s our No 9, our striker.

“We will need to find a different solution for the last two games. We have to avoid these kind of things because we need all our squad available.”