Pedro Neto insisted Chelsea would rather be playing in the Club World Cup than lying on the beach.

Neto was speaking following Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat to Flamengo in their second game of the revamped tournament taking place across the United States.

The Portugal international notched his second goal of the competition in the 13th minute at Lincoln Financial Field to put the Blues ahead on Friday.

But two goals in three minutes from Bruno Henrique and Danilo turned the game on its head, with Chelsea substitute Nicolas Jackson then sent off in the 68th minute.

Wallace Yan concluded the scoring seven minutes from time, meaning Chelsea need to beat Tunisian side Esperance Sportive de Tunis on Tuesday to reach the last 16.

Flamengo’s victory saw them become the second South American team to defeat a European side by multiple goals at the Club World Cup after Vasco da Gama in 2000.

Neto conceded that Flamengo had more desire than Chelsea, but when asked if he would prefer to be at the Club World Cup or resting, he replied: “[Yes], 100% sure.

“We have to be thankful. We are here playing this tournament. There would be a lot of players that would love to be in my place and in the other place. We have to enjoy it.”

Chelsea looked on course to build on their victory in their opening game of the tournament against Los Angeles FC after a strong start in the first half.

They registered an expected goals (xG) total of 0.65 to Flamengo’s 0.2, though their opponents had more shots on target than Enzo Maresca’s team (four to three).

But the Brazilian outfit dominated after the break and, helped by Jackson’s dismissal, had an xG tally of 2.41 to Chelsea’s 0.46 in the second half.

“What went wrong was the second half. To be honest, in the first half maybe they had more control of the ball, but we could create the chances more than them,” Neto said.

“And when we went to the second half, we tried to press a little bit higher.

“We started well in the second half, but what made the difference was a little bit the desire and they had more desire than us to win the game.”