EAST RUTHERFORD, United States: Cole Palmer scored twice and created another as Chelsea stunned Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the Club World Cup final early this morning, beating the European champions 3-0 at MetLife Stadium to win the inaugural edition of the new FIFA tournament.
PSG are labelled as the favourites to win the match, which was also attended by Donald Trump, after arriving in the United States with the status of UEFA Champions League champions in addition to thrashing Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals.
However, while PSG had previously led 3-0 in the semi-final, this time the situation was completely different when they were trailing 0-3 before the end of the first half.
Palmer opened the scoring midway through the first half and added another goal in the 30th minute, before taking advantage of a weakness in the PSG defence to lay the ball to Joao Pedro for the third goal in the 43rd minute.
PSG’s bad day got worse when Joao Neves was shown a red card after a VAR review four minutes from time for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
The result of this match was certainly unexpected by many, but Chelsea ended their long season in style – they became the first champions of the 32-team Club World Cup, in addition to winning the UEFA Conference League and finishing the English Premier League in fourth place.
Chelsea will also take home around US$125 million in prize money, making the short summer break before the new season begins worthwhile.
There was a lively atmosphere at MetLife Stadium, with the Manhattan skyline in the background, with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in attendance along with 81,118 fans.
This is the second time in six weeks that PSG have been involved in a final that has turned into a one-sided affair.
Previously they thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final, but this time they were beaten by Chelsea in hot weather.
Palmer almost opened the scoring for Chelsea in the first 10 minutes, but PSG also had a chance when Desire Doue chose to pass the ball to Achraf Hakimi rather than take a shot himself in the penalty area – giving Cucurella the chance to make a save.
Chelsea finally opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Malo Gusto passed Nuno Mendes on the right, before his attempt was blocked by Lucas Beraldo.
The ball bounced back to Gusto, who then passed the ball to Palmer to finish into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Palmer has been the main face of Chelsea on the billboards throughout this tournament in the United States and he proved his status as a star player when he again scored in the 30th minute.
After slipping in on the right with Mendes out of position, Palmer advanced into the penalty area before finishing with a flicked shot into the same corner as the first goal.
Pedro, who was also involved in the second goal, added his name as the scorer for the third – the Brazilian, newly signed from Brighton, calmly finishing past Gianluigi Donnarumma after receiving Palmer’s pass.
PSG had only conceded one goal in their last eight matches, but this time they failed to recover even though Neves managed to head home a header that went just wide in first-half injury time.
Substitute Liam Delap almost added a fourth for Chelsea midway through the second half, before Neves was sent off to cap a miserable day for PSG.