Former Chelsea midfielder Ramires has suggested that the Blues’ midfield could be key in them claiming the FIFA Club World Cup title against Palmeiras.
The Blues take on the Brazilian outfit in the final of the competition on Saturday afternoon having progressed past Al-Hilal in the semi-finals - Romelu Lukaku ’s solitary goal proving enough for Thomas Tuchel ’s men.
Now, they head into the match aiming to lift their first ever Club World Cup title having experienced defeat at the hands of another Brazilian club in the form of Corinthians back in 2012.
Ex-Chelsea man Ramires - who represented Palmeiras before his 2020 retirement - is expecting the Blues midfield quality to shine through.
Talking to Globo Esporte, he said: “Palmeiras is a competitive team and very dangerous when they have room to use Rony and Dudu's speed, with Veiga loading.
“The strength of this Chelsea, in my view, is the great ability to control their midfield, with Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante, apart from the presence of Lukaku, who is going through a great moment.
“I believe that's where the game will develop, with teams looking to take advantage of these qualities.”
Intriguingly, Ramires was part of the last Chelsea side to compete in a Club World Cup final.
He suggests that the current crop of players at Stamford Bridge are better than the squad he was involved in and has predicted them to control the flow of the game against Palmeiras at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.
The Brazilian continued: “I see this current Chelsea very strong too. Maybe it's a team with a little more ability to propose the game than our team was, since admittedly we had our defence and our speed counterattack as strong.
“From the games I saw in the last Champions League, the team now has pieces in the squad to make a greater variation, depending on what the match requires.”
