- Palmer inspires Blues to glory
- It’s Chelsea 3 – 0 PSG
England international, Cole Palmer registered two goals and an assist as Chelsea demolished Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) 3-0 to become the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup champions.
In being crowned the the global champions, golden boy Palmer’s superb performance guided the Premier League side to a resounding final victory over ten-man PSG in a blockbuster final played at MetLife Stadium in New York on Sunday.
The impressive Englishman scored twice in an eight-minute spell in the opening half and then played through Joao Pedro just before the break to set up the Blues for a deserved triumph over the European champions.
Luis Enrique’s side, who were chasing a quadruple of major trophies during the 2024/25 campaign, were rocked by Chelsea’s first-half onslaught and looked a shadow of the team who demolished Real Madrid C.F. in the semi-finals.
The Londoners’ devastating performance provided a fitting climax to a hugely successful tournament and cements their status as one of the teams to beat in both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League next season.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca made two changes from his side’s semi-final victory over Fluminense FC, with Levi Colwill and Reece James coming in for Tosin Adarabioyo and Christopher Nkunku respectively, while Joao Pedro kept his place up front.
These moves paid off, with the Blues looking extremely dangerous from the outset. Palmer showed his intent when he came close to opening the scoring in just the seventh minute with a curling left-footed effort that flew just wide.
PSG soon found their footing and Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella reacted brilliantly to block a dangerous pass across goal by Desire Doue that was directed towards Achraf Hakimi.
However, Chelsea continued to push and took a deserved lead in the 22nd minute when Joao Pedro attacked down the right and squared the ball to Palmer, who found the corner of the net in style.
With confidence now soaring, Palmer doubled Chelsea’s lead with a copycat effort when he weaved his way forward to the edge of the PSG area and caressed a sublime left-footed effort into the same bottom corner.
Palmer then capped an incredible first-half display when he weighted a perfect through ball to Joao Pedro, who chipped the ball neatly over Gianluigi Donnarumma for his third goal in two games.
PSG had no answers for Chelsea’s defensive set-up and Liam Delap almost scored twice after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Any hopes of a comeback ended when Joao Neves was sent off six minutes from time for pulling Cucurella’s hair as Chelsea held on to seal their place in football history.
Quotes
“It’s a great feeling. The gaffer put a great game plan out. He knew where there would space and tried to free me up as much as possible. I just had to repay him and score some goals. He [Enzo Maresca] is building something special. I feel we’re going in the right direction.” – Cole Palmer, Chelsea midfielder
“I have no words for the players. For me, we won the game in the first ten minutes. We set the tempo, we knew the way we wanted to play. Today we found a position for Cole [Palmer[ where there was more space to attack. The effort from all the players has been fantastic.” – Enzo Maresca, Chelsea coach
“It’s not just when you win that you do a good job. What we did this season was something we’d never done before. Thirteen years ago in Paris, I’d never competed for titles like this. Of course, we wanted to take this trophy home, but that doesn’t erase what we did this season.” – Marquinhos, Paris Saint-Germain defender
