Andre Schurrle’s cracking volley capped an impressive pre-season win for Chelsea, who beat AC Milan 2-0 in New Jersey.
Summer signing Schurrle netted in injury time after Kevin de Bruyne had put the Premier League side ahead just before the half-hour mark.
De Bruyne was handed a starting place after recovering from an injury he picked up during the recent tour of Asia.
And he resumed his encouraging pre-season form, firing past keeper Christian Abbiati following Eden Hazard’s terrific run.
The Blues, who will now face boss Jose Mourinho’s former club Real Madrid in Miami in Wednesday’s final of the Guinness International Champions Cup, made a determined start at the MetLife Stadium.
Oscar went close in the opening minute and Branislav Ivanovic missed a chance when he headed wide after being found by Hazard.
De Bruyne then found the net after good work from Marko Van Ginkel but was offside.
However, there was no doubt about the goal which broke the deadlock on 29 minutes.
AC Milan had been enjoying a decent spell – Petr Cech saved from Stephan El Shaarawy and Ivanovic did superbly to prevent former Manchester City man Mario Balotelli getting to the rebound.
John Terry, on as a half-time substitute, should have doubled the lead but volleyed wide at the far post following Juan Mata’s corner.
Victor Moses and Schurrle shot over, while Mata saw an effort saved and a free-kick narrowly miss the target as Chelsea dominated the second half.
Mourinho’s men were excellent although they were caused some problems on the left by Mbaye Niang, whose 79th-minute cross was headed wastefully wide by Antonio Nocerino.
Schurrle, on the other hand, made no mistake in the closing moments, brilliantly belting home Moses’ cross.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1):: Cech (Schwarzer 45); Azpilicueta (Terry 45), Ivanovic, Cahill, Bertrand (Cole 45); Essien (Ramires), Van Ginkel (Mikel 66); De Bruyne (Moses 45), Oscar (Mata 45), Hazard (Schurrle 69), Ba (Torres 45) (Lukaku 86).
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This post was last modified on 05/08/2013