Palmeiras and Chelsea will continue the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup quarter-finals in what will be a rematch of the 2022 final in the old format. Abel Ferreira’s men knocked out fellow Brazilians Botafogo, while the Blues dispatched Benfica in extra time after a 90-minute suspension due to adverse weather conditions.
At the start of the tournament, Palmeiras were feeling good after getting a draw against Porto and looking like the better team. However, after the Dragons lost to Inter Miami and drew 4-4 against Al Ahly, the result suddenly wasn’t as good.
Meanwhile, Chelsea had comfortable wins in all of their games so far, except for the loss to Flamengo and an added-time penalty that kept Benfica alive in the round of 16 and sent the game to extra time. Other than that, the Blues have gotten it done without necessarily putting in 100% effort and even in the Benfica match, they put the Portuguese side to the sword in extra time.
This match will kick off at 9pm local time and 2am on Saturday UK time.
Under 0.5 first-half goals (13/8 with Bet365)
Chelsea’s and Palmeiras’ playing styles actually complement each other, with the Blues preferring to keep possession and dictate tempo and the Verdão’s defence-first mentality and taste for fast breaks. We can expect the game to look like this, but with extra caution for both sides due to it being a knockout tie.
The initial 45 minutes, specifically, feel like careful and studied ones, with no team looking to push too hard at the start. Enzo Maresca’s men are never shy to just pass the ball around waiting for an opening, and Palmeiras are also never afraid of playing ‘ugly’ football if that’s what takes them closer to the result they want.
Chelsea to win and BTTS NO (9/4 with 10Bet)
Applying the same logic, it doesn’t feel like there will be a lot of opportunities for either side in this contest. In the Brazilian Serie A, Palmeiras are known for trying to complicate the other team’s game before trying to get themselves going — which can frustrate fans sometimes, but it has worked during Abel Ferreira’s tenure at the helm.
At the same time, Chelsea can be a very patient team. In their last 15 games, only twice did they attempt 20+ shots – once at home against Ipswich Town and last time around in 120 minutes against Benfica (with eight of the 22 coming at extra time).
Considering Palmeiras’ overall style and the type of opposition they’ll be facing, it’s easy to imagine that their goalscoring opportunities will be few and far between. Their tally of 17.3 shots per game during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is likely to not mean much in this tie.
All logic points towards a dull game at first and Chelsea eventually having enough to break the deadlock sometime in the second half.
How both teams go into Palmeiras vs Chelsea
Palmeiras and Chelsea are set to face each other after enduring 30 extra minutes of tense and tiring football, picking up extra time wins over Botafogo and Benfica, respectively. At least, neither of them had to deal with the emotions of a penalty shootout, which can be a relief.
The Brazilians have a sort of edge over the Blues for staying in Philadelphia, where they played their fellow countrymen last Saturday. Chelsea, meanwhile, played in Charlotte and will face a two-hour flight to get to Philly.
Both teams looked superior against their respective opponents during the round of 16 and will make for the best possible quarter-finals of any combination that includes them, Botafogo and Benfica.
Palmeiras team news
Palmeiras will face Chelsea without two of their key defensive players. Centre-back and captain Gustavo Gómez was sent off late in their win over Botafogo and will miss the quarter finals — as will left-back Joaquín Piquerez, who picked up his second yellow card of the tournament.
The other starting centre-back, Murilo, will be out due to injury, but that was expected after he was subbed off right after Inter Miami scored their first goal in Matchday Three of the group stage. He was already unavailable against Botafogo and his status remains the same for the Chelsea game.
Chelsea team news
Chelsea will also have a significant absence of their own. Moisés Caicedo, who had a strong showing against Benfica and set up Pedro Neto’s goal that made it 3-1 to the Blues, received a yellow card in the second half and will miss the quarter-finals against Palmeiras.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Jackson returns from his two-game suspension after being sent off against Flamengo and missing the matches against ES Tunis and Benfica. He’s likely to come off the bench after Liam Delap took the starting spot in this span.
Palmeiras vs Chelsea head-to-head
As we mentioned before, this quarter-final tie will be a rematch of the 2022 Club World Cup final, from the older format. On that occasion, Chelsea lifted the trophy after a 117th-minute penalty goal from Kai Havertz gave them a 2-1 win.
That is the only previous meeting between the two sides.