Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca called the two-hour weather delay that disrupted his team’s Club World Cup win over Benfica as a “joke” and “not football”.
The Blues eventually defeated Benfica 4-1 in extra-time to reach the quarter-finals but the match took four hours and 39 minutes to complete after a storm warming in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Chelsea were leading 1-0 when players were asked to leave the pitch. Both teams were taken back inside and were pictured riding exercise bikes and kicking balls in the dressing room during the interruption.
It was the sixth time at the Club World Cup that a game had been stopped because of a storm or lightning warning and Maresca went as far to suggest the United States was not a suitable host.
Games at the inaugural 32-team tournament are being played across the US, which co-hosts the men’s World Cup next year, and other stoppages have taken place in Orlando, Cincinnati and New Jersey.
“For me personally, it’s not football,” Maresca told a press conference at around 2am local time in Charlotte. “I think it’s a joke. It’s not football.
“I can understand that for security reasons, you have to suspend the game. But if you suspend seven or eight games, that means that probably this is not the right place to do this competition.
“It’s a fantastic competition. It’s the Club World Cup, all the best clubs are here,” he added.
“But six, seven games suspended? It’s not normal. In a World Cup how many have they suspended? Probably zero. In a European (championship), how many games? Zero. There is some problem.”
Maresca’s side had appeared set for the last eight after Reece James’s free kick had given them a second-half lead in Charlotte, only for the game to be halted four minutes from time due to lightning in the area.
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A long pause disrupted their rhythm and allowed Benfica to equalise from the penalty spot late on, Angel Di Maria cool and calm from 12 yards after Malo Gusto had handled.
But Benfica were rocked moments into extra time by the sending off of Gianluca Prestianni for a second bookable offence, and Chelsea eventually romped home, goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding gloss to the result as the Portuguese side wilted late on. Chelsea will face Palmeiras, who earlier edged fellow Brazilian club Botafogo, in the last eight in Philadelphia on Friday.
“The game was very good for 85 minutes, then we stopped for two hours, and when we started it was a completely different game. It’s not the same game because you break the tempo,” Maresca said.
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