EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Behind a brace from Cole Palmer, Chelsea won the Club World Cup in impressive fashion, toppling Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 81,118. When Palmer is in this kind of form, Chelsea can consider themselves to be one of the best teams in the world, and it showed by defeating the current holders of the Champions League in a rout. Few would’ve believed that the Blues could’ve won this coming into the match, but they left no doubt, scoring three goals in 11 minutes with Palmer as a central figure in all of them.
It felt like the Parisians ran out of steam in the match, and their press wasn’t there as Chelsea created chance after chance with runs down the flanks. Malo Gusto ran through the PSG defense for Chelsea’s opener, and from there, it seemed like only one team was playing in the match. The midfield of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo stood tall against PSG’s trio, and Joao Pedro’s presence again made a difference.
Since joining Chelsea on July 2, the Brazilian has now scored three goals as he has fit the attack like a glove. Players have been impressed with his fitness, being able to join the team from holiday in Brazil and immediately hit the ground running in the Club World Cup. It’s exactly how Enzo Maresca will want to close out the season, with the Blues winning their first Club World Cup title since 2021, though this one was a 32-team field unlike in past editions.
Chelsea have been tested in this tournament, but after bouncing back from losing to Flamengo, the Blues have stood tall amid the heat and physicality to win the entire tournament. For PSG, while this can’t spoil their treble-winning season, it does end it on a sour note to lose in this manner after running Real Madrid off the pitch in the semifinals. PSG will be back to make deep runs in tournaments moving forward, but it’s a show of what putting miles like this on legs can do in quick succession.
Unlike Chelsea’s midfield rotation, PSG relied on Fabian Ruiz, Joao Neves, and Vitinha exclusively in midfield and they couldn’t keep up in losing to Chelsea. Neves ended up being sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
It’s a moment to celebrate for the Blues and they’ll even get to wear the Club World Cup winners patch on their jerseys for four years until the next tournament in 2029.
