Chelsea 3-1 Monterrey

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Media caption,

Club World Cup highlights - Monterrey 1-3 Chelsea

Chelsea marked their Club World Cup debut with a comfortable victory over Mexican side Monterrey to secure their place in Sunday's final.

Juan Mata put Rafael Benitez's side ahead in the 17th minute, sweeping home from inside the area.

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Juan Mata opens scoring for Chelsea

Fernando Torres's deflected goal just after the break made it 2-0 before Monterrey's Darvin Chavez turned Mata's cross into his own net soon after.

Aldo de Nigris curled in a consolation for Monterrey in stoppage time.

Chelsea will play Brazilian side Corinthians, who beat Al Ahly of Egypt 1-0 in the other semi-final.

Monterrey, meanwhile, face Al Ahly in the third place play-off.

The victory was rarely in doubt for Chelsea against a Monterrey side who showed plenty of endeavour but lacked bite in the final third.

One of the main positives for the European champions was the performance of defender David Luiz, who was employed as a makeshift midfielder to fill the void left by the injured Oriol Romeu.

The Brazilian was revelling in his new role from the outset and he was the first to threaten inside the opening 10 minutes, firing over from outside the box.

Luiz then played a smart through ball for Eden Hazard down the left, but the Belgium international bent his shot just wide of the far post.

Branislav Ivanovic should have done better soon after when he stabbed wide from a corner, but the expected Chelsea goal duly arrived with just over quarter-of-an-hour gone.

A delightful move carved open the Monterrey defence as Oscar's backheel found Ashley Cole on the left side of the area and the full-back squared a pass for the unmarked Mata, who swept a left-footed finish into the net.

Monterrey's best chance of the half came in the 26th minute when Jesus Manuel Corona got the better of Cesar Azpilicueta and delivered a cross into the area but, fortunately for Chelsea, De Nigris directed his header over the bar.

The Mexican side had a couple more promising moments before the break but their hopes of causing an upset were ended less than five minutes into the second half as Chelsea added two quick goals.

Media caption,

Two goals in two minutes for Chelsea

First, Hazard superbly beat a defender for pace on the left before feeding a pass to Torres inside the area and his hugely deflected shot looped into the back of the net.

And as Monterrey were still recovering from that setback Chelsea increased their advantage. Torres bent a pass behind the Mexican side's defence for Mata, whose ball back across goal was turned into his own net by Chavez.

With the win safe, Chelsea took their foot off the pedal and allowed Monterrey to enjoy more possession and they had a couple of half chances as game headed towards full time.

Petr Cech was called into a rare moment of action as he got down to save Cesar Delgado's weak effort from distance, before De Nigris lashed an effort high over the Czech keeper's goal.

But De Nigris was rewarded for a hard-working performance by snatching a consolation for Monterrey in stoppage time as he was played in inside the area and he confidently fired beyond Cech.

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