CWC: Chelsea aware of Ighalo’s strength ahead of Al-Hilal clash

The Premier League giants will head into the clash against the Saudi Arabian champions as the favourites, but they are aware of the threat their opponents pose in attack 

Chelsea’s assistant coach Zsolt Low warned his players of the dangers Al-Hilal have in their strikeforce ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup semifinal clash on Wednesday.

The Blues will be seeking a spot in the final against Palmeiras when they take on the Asian Champions at the  Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.

Chelsea will head into the clash as the favourite, but Al-Hilal have some established players in their squad. One of them is Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo, who scored in Al-Hilal’s 6-1 thrashing of Al-Jazira in the quarterfinals.

Ighalo is not a stranger to Chelsea, having faced them on numerous occasions during his two spells in the English top-flight.

Low is aware of this, and he is expecting a difficult game on Wednesday evening. The former Hungarian international said this in the absence of Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel, who will miss the game because of Covid-19.

“We know Al Hilal, we watched the game live on Sunday with the coaching staff. We saw two very good teams with a lot of quality,” Low said in the pre-match press conference as per football London.

“Al-Jazira led 1-0, but Al Hilal came better into the game, and in the end, it was a big win for them. We know they won the Asia Cup a lot of times, most of the time.”

“It’s a very good team, we know a lot of players. They have players from different situations. Marega from Porto we know from the Champions League.”

“We know Ighalo from Watford in England. They have very good quality up front, they can score a lot of goals.”

“It’s a very good team. We expected a difficult game tomorrow,” he added.

The match will be Chelsea’s first game against a side from Saudi Arabia.