A night for Nicolas Jackson to forget quickly turned into an afternoon that Chelsea will also want to forget quickly as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of an excellent Flamengo Friday.

Substitute Bruno Henrique played a starring role as Flamengo came roaring back in the second half to beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Club World Cup on Friday, maintaining an impressive record for South American teams so far at the competition.

Pedro Neto had given Chelsea the lead in the first half, but Flamengo, roared on by their frenzied supporters who made up the majority of the 54,019 crowd, did not deserve to be behind and produced a stunning fightback after the interval.

Bruno Henrique came off the bench in the 56th minute and equalised for the Brazilian giants just after the hour mark before setting up Danilo to make it 2-1.

Chelsea were stunned, and their hopes of pulling level again were effectively destroyed when substitute Jackson was sent off in the 68th minute.

Wallace Yan, also on as a substitute, then sealed the victory for the Rio de Janeiro club, the Brazilian league leaders, when he made it 3-1 late on.

With two wins from two at the tournament, Flamengo are now on the brink of qualification for the last 16 from group D.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca defended Jackson who has already apologised to teammates.

"The red card is nothing to do with Nico's future," said Maresca, who also revealed that Jackson had apologised to his teammates in the dressing room.

Chelsea are three points behind Flamengo and will face Esperance of Tunisia in their last group outing in Philadelphia next Tuesday.