Kovacic: Kepa is a world-class goalkeeper Chelsea edged Al Hilal to book a UAE 2021 final against Palmeiras Mateo Kovacic won the Alibaba Cloud Match Award He discusses the victory and their desire to lift the trophy Mateo Kovacic has enjoyed some start to 2022. He scored a goal-of-the-season contender, and was named the best player on the pitch, as Chelsea rallied from two goals down to draw with Liverpool. He captained the club for the first time six days later. And today, he won the Alibaba Cloud Match Award as the Blues edged Al Hilal to reach the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021™ final. Not that the 27-year-old perfectionist, who excelled for Croatia as they finished runners-up at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, was entirely satisfied with his own performance: “I made some unforced errors which I normally don’t do, but in the end I’m happy.” Kovacic was, however, keen to heap praise on another Chelsea player. After Romelu Lukaku had put them ahead, two superb Kepa Arrizabalaga ...