Club World Cup semi-final live updates: Al Hilal vs Chelsea

Confusion in Chelsea's attack! Harvertz picks out Azpilicueta at the back post, his cross is searching for Lukaku but he opts to leave it, anticipating a team mate was in a better position. Did he hear a shout?

A fully confident Belgium international would stick this in the back of the net! He's unmarked at the near post as Azpilicueta delivers a low cross, but he fails to make the connection!

The run of Lukaku is fed by Ziyech's clever ball, he gets a shot away from a tight angle but Al-Muaiouf makes the stop.

The offside flag is raised in any case.

A nervy moment at both ends of the pitch as Al Hilal goalkeeper Al-Muaiouf spills a cross but his defenders bail him out.

At the other end, Alonso misses an attempted clearance. Fortunately for Chelsea there's no one in blue to take advantage.

Kovacic escapes a booking for a lazy foul in midfield.

Chelsea are really knocking on the door at the moment as they force a corner and it falls to Jorginho, whose shot is blocked by a crowd of defending bodies inside the Al-Hilal box.

Ziyech is in great form for Chelsea at the moment and he has a chance to break the deadlock as he collects a pass from Azpilicueta but his shot from the edge of the box is agonisingly over the bar.

With nothing else on, Silva tries an ambitious shot from 25 yards. It's not pretty from the Chelsea defender as it flies well wide of goal.

It almost feels like a home game for Al Hilal, who have brought plenty of supporters to this huge occasion for the club.

It has been a slow start to proceedings, but Chelsea have had plenty of the possession, and there appears to be plenty of space for the forwards to run into if the midfielders can provide the right pass.

Ighalo doesn't take long to have a go, but his effort from distance is never troubling Kepa.

Chelsea, in their all-yellow kit, get us underway.

Around 20,000 supporters are expected today, with around 1,000 having travelled from England.

The players are out on the pitch and kick-off is next!

Sadly, as you can see, the stadium is far from full.

This is fascinating!

The semi-automated system aims to reduce the time it takes to make an offside decision and provide clear visualisation for supporters.

Cassio pulled off a couple of great saves to deny the Blues in the shootout as Corinthians stunned the Premier League side.

Since Chelsea lost successive games in September against Man City and Juventus, the Blues have only been defeated twice in their last 28 matches, winning 18.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will not be present at the match after testing positive for Covid-19.

Instead, assistants, Arno Michels and Zsolt Low, will lead the team.

“We’re constantly in contact with Thomas,” said Low, the first-team coach.

“We have a lot of meetings together and we’re video-calling all the time, many times in the day.

"We record training and send that to him, we change ideas a lot of times in the day.

“Also during the game, we can be in contact with him, on what he sees and what he wants us to do.”

From Saudi Arabia, Al Hilal have won 50 domestic trophies in their 65-year history.

The current Asian champions are managed by Leonardo Jardim, who guided Monaco to the Ligue 1 title in 2017.

They're making their second appearance in this competition having lost 3-1 to Flamengo in the 2019 semi-final.

As expected, Kepa Arrizabalega keeps his place in goal and Edouard Mendy - who has returned from the Africa Cup of Nations - has to make do with a place on the bench.

Romelu Lukaku starts up front and needs a big performance after a worrying run of form. He's partnered by Kai Havertz, who makes his first start in over a mmonrh.

Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho are selected in midfield which means Kante is named amongst the substitutes, along with Mason Mount after he picked up a knock in the FA Cup win.

Starting XI: Kepa, Christensen, Silva, Rudiger Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Jorginho, Alonso, Ziyech, Lukaku, Havertz.. subs: Bettinelli, Mendy, Kante, Pulisic, Werner, Chalobah, Saul, Barkley, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Kenedy, Sarr.

Thomas Tuchel makes three changes to the side that required extra-time to beat Plymouth last Saturday.

Kai Havertz, Marcos Alonso and Thiago Silva come in for Mason Mount, Malang Sarr and Callum Hudson-Odoi, all of whom drop to the bench.