Cole Palmer scored twice and fed João Pedro for a goal as Chelsea overwhelmed Paris Saint-Germain in the first half and beat the European champions 3-0 on Sunday in the final of the first expanded Club World Cup.
Palmer had almost identical left-footed goals from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd and 30th minutes, then sent a through pass that enabled João Pedro to chip goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43d for his third goal in two starts with the Blues.
A 23-year-old who joined Chelsea from Manchester City two years ago, Palmer scored 18 goals this season.
PSG's João Neves was given a red card in the 84th minute for pulling down Marc Cucurella by his hair. After a testy final few minutes in a game with six yellow cards, the teams needed to be separated as PSG coach Luis Enrique and Donnarumma pushed João Pedro near the center circle.
PSG, who had outscored opponents 16-1, had been looking to complete a quadruple after winning Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and its first Champions League title.
Chelsea went ahead in the 22nd after goalkeeper Robert Sánchez kicked the ball downfield and Nuno Mendes mis-hit his header 15 yards past the midfield stripe toward his own goal. Malo Gusto's shot was blocked by Lucas Beraldo and rebounded to Palmer, who ended PSG's streak of 436 minutes without conceding.
Palmer doubled the lead in the 30th when he ran onto a long ball from Levi Colwill, cut inside before shooting.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca praised Cole Palmer's ability to rise to the occasion after the English attacking midfielder was named Club World Cup player of the tournament following their commanding 3-0 victory over Paris St Germain in Sunday's final.
"These are the games we expect Cole Palmer to appear and once again he showed what he is made of," Maresca told a press conference after Palmer scored twice and provided an assist to Joao Pedro in their title-winning performance against the Champions League winners.
Maresca revealed his tactical masterplan had worked to perfection, with Chelsea pressing PSG high and exploiting direct plays behind their rivals' defense to devastating effect.
"The idea was go man-to-man because if you leave spaces to PSG they will kill you, so we tried to be very aggressive and suffocate them early on and that intensity was crucial in the first 10 minutes due to the scorching heat, that was really difficult conditions to play as the game progresses," Maresca explained.
The Italian coach highlighted how his team had successfully targeted PSG's vulnerable flank, adding: "We had a lot of success exploring the left side of their defence, things worked perfectly for us due to the effort the players put."
Maresca praised his players for deploying perfectly the gameplan he had in mind, with their high-intensity approach proving decisive in the sweltering New Jersey conditions, saying that he is delighted to win a Club World Cup he thinks will be seen much differently in the future.
"I feel that this competition (the Club World Cup) will be as important as or even more important than the Champions League," Maresca said.
"I was lucky enough to be part of a coaching staff [at Manchester City] that won the Champions League three years ago, but this competition [the Club World Cup] features the best clubs in the world. That's why we value it as much as the Champions League, or perhaps even more. For us, it was a great triumph. Allowing Chelsea fans to wear that world champion patch on their shirts is a source of pride for us."
Enrique tried to play down shoving Chelsea forward Joao Pedro in a near brawl between players and coaching staff following Chelsea's dominating 3-0 win in the Club World Cup final on Sunday.
The incident erupted when PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was arguing with Joao Pedro, before Luis Enrique appeared to raise his hands to the Brazilian's face.
Joao Pedro hit the deck and the PSG manager was quietly escorted away in remarkable scenes that saw players from both sides clash.
"At the end of the match, there was a situation that I believe could have been avoided by everyone," Luis Enrique said at a press conference after the match.
"My objective and my intention, as always, is to try to win over the players so that there are no more problems. Internally, there is a lot of tension, a lot of pressure."
The Spanish coach acknowledged the severity of the incident, adding: "And from there, there is a series of shoves from a lot of people, which I think we should all avoid and which should not happen again."
When it came to the match, however, he was left without answers after a brutal thrashing by Chelsea in a clash of European football's most powerful and richest clubs.
“They had a lot of energy. ... I believe they were actually better than we were.”
"Football -- that's the way it is. Can't explain everything," said Luis Enrique.
"I believe they actually started the game really, really well with a lot of pressure and we gave them a hard time. And then after that I believe they had opportunities to score but it didn't happen."
In front of a tournament-high crowd of 81,188 at MetLife Stadium that included US President Donald Trump, Chelsea triumphed to bag the biggest club title.
"It's a great feeling. Even better because obviously everyone doubted us before the game. ... The gaffer put a great gameplan out and obviously, he knew where the space was going to be," Palmer said.
Trump was booed when he walked on the field for the postgame awards, then posed with Chelsea players after he and FIFA president Gianni Infantino handed the trophy to captain Reece James.
Chelsea had finished fourth in the Premier League and won the third-tier UEFA Conference League. The Blues took the world title for the second time after 2021, when it was an seven-team event. The Blues earned $128,435,000 to $153,815,000 in prize money, the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.
PSG had not lost by three goals since a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Newcastle in October 2023.
Chelsea head into the 2025-26 season, which starts in less than five weeks, believing it can challenge Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.
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