Chelsea thrashed Benfica 4-1 to advance to the quarter-final stage of the FIFA Club World Cup in a crazy game that lasted over four hours.

The Blues had to do it the hard way after an Angel Di Maria penalty in stoppage time forced the game into extra time.

After a sustained period of dominance but no end product, it took the ingenuity of captain Reece James to open the scoring in the 64th minute. James caught Benfica's goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin out with a free-kick at his near post.

Chelsea looked set to hold on to the result, but centre referee Slavko Vinčić summoned the players back into the dressing room with only four minutes left on the clock.

The players were asked to leave the pitch due to the threat of lightning and thunderstorms as dark clouds hung overhead at the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte.

A stadium announcement indicated that the play would be stopped for 30 minutes, but every lightning strike within a 10-mile radius would reset that timer. The game ended up being halted for over two hours.

After the threat had passed, the players came back onto the pitch, did a slight warmup of seven minutes, before the remaining four minutes and stoppage time were played.

Malo Gusto, who replaced James, handled the ball inside the area that referee Vinčić missed at first, but after a pitchside VAR review, gave the penalty.

Di Maria made no mistake from the spot as the World Cup winner rolled the ball past Robert Sanchez to force another 30 minutes.

The Portuguese side's ascendancy was quickly nipped in the bud after Gianluca Prestianni was shown a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Levi Colwill at the start of extra time.

It took Enzo Maresca's side a while to capitalise on their man advantage, but they eventually scored three goals in the second half to storm the quarter-finals.

Christopher Nkunku scored from close range to give Chelsea the lead before further goals from Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sealed the deal for the West Londoners.

A fuming Maresca had sharp words to say after the long break, slamming America's suitability to host the tournament.

Chelsea's game was the sixth one to be delayed or suspended in this competition due to weather trouble.

"After the break, the game changed completely. For me, it's not football. It's already seven, eight, nine games that they suspended," he said, as captured by Sky Sports.

"I think it's a joke to be honest, it's not football. It's not for us. You cannot be inside. I struggle to understand. I can understand that for security reasons, you suspend the game. But if you suspend seven, eight games, that means that probably [this] is not the right place to do this competition."

Videos and photos of how the players tried to remain active inside the dressing room surfaced. The players rode bikes, kicked ball and listened to music as they waited for the threat to subside.

In a related report, the amount Chelsea earned at the FIFA Club World Cup after qualifying for the Round of 16 emerged.

The major selling point of the competition was the ridiculous prize money on offer.

Chelsea's earnings so far have already surpassed the amount they used to break Liam Delap's release clause from Ipswich Town.

Source: TUKO.co.ke