Ahead of the Club World Cup final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, experts predicted a one-sided affair. And it turned out to be just that. But not exactly in the way that everyone would have thought. In a glorious flipping of the script, everyone’s favourites PSG with their sleek brand of football were torn apart by the much less fancied London club. In a way, they out-PSG’d PSG, employing their own weapon against them – the high press.
With the pressure of winning the final all on PSG, Chelsea started the match much like the current UEFA Champions League winners- running all over the field and giving opponents no room to manoeuvre. It was as if the two teams had suddenly swapped souls. Chelsea were suddenly the fast paced, gegenpressing side while PSG, after demolishing Real Madrid deploying the same brand of football, looked unsure for the very first time in the tournament.
This uncertainty permeating through the PSG ranks was what ultimately helped Chelsea catch them unawares. With the pressure off them, the Blues started with a newfound vigour, snapping at their more fancied opponents’ heels as they did not let PSG settle on the ball. More often than not, PSG have relied on this same tactic where they pressed opponents from the get go, got an early goal and then piled up the pressure. On Sunday, Chelsea were one step ahead with Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Reece James cutting off PSG’s supply line to start their own attack.
With Chelsea shutting down PSG’s midfield engine, the well-oiled machine hit a snag. That is where the current UEFA Conference League winners employed their lethal counter and long balls with Cole Palmer and new boy Joa Pedro right at the heart of it. French full back Malo Gusto, meanwhile, created all sorts of nuisance on the wings as PSG’s Nuno Mendes was caught out of position at inopportune moments as the French champions looked to find a way through the compact Chelsea defence.
Forever first. Forever iconic. @ChelseaFC | #FIFACWC pic.twitter.com/RVfKZ0fuzE
— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) July 14, 2025
The need to press high was what ultimately unravelled PSG’s defence with Gusto getting a free rein to charge down the right wing and going deep inside the opponent’s box. He tried a shot which was blocked and he ultimately fed the ball to Palmer who finished exquisitely with his left foot to give Chelsea the lead in 22 mins.
The finish of the second goal was almost a carbon copy of the first as Palmer ran through a spent PSG midfield, cut in from the right, pulled off a majestic feint and with another left-footed strike found the back of the net in the 30th min.
A lot of eyebrows were raised when Chelsea had snapped up Palmer for £40 million from Manchester City in September 2023 with a lot of the London club’s recent signings imploding. The boy from Wythenshawe, Manchester was thought to be another such costly mistake. But Palmer burst into life as soon as he switched the shade of blue of his jersey, banging in 27 goals and 15 assists in what turned out to be his breakout season.
Chelsea players celebrate with the FIFA Club World Cup trophy. (AP)
The expectations were through the roof ahead of the 2024/25 season but a bit of a dry patch had the detractors sharpening their knives again. The 23-year-old ultimately finished the season with 15 goals and 9 assists in the EPL but what really shut up the naysayers was his performance in the Conference League final and now the Club World Cup final.
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With Pedro as Chelsea’s new target man, Palmer has looked way more comfortable feeding the ball to the Brazilian rather than a misfiring Nicolas Jackson. And they have linked up just twice since Pedro’s £60m move from Brighton in July 2025.
The third goal that sealed PSG’s fate was the result of the very same combination with Palmer wrong footing the PSG defence with an intelligent pass to Pedro who had run behind and finished it off with a deft chip over Gianluigi Donnarumma with the score 3-0 going into half time.
With the Palmer-Pedro combination, Chelsea might be on their way in duplicating their very own Kevin de Bruyne-Erling Haaland partnership which bodes well for their title challenge next season. With players like Liam Delap also in contention and Enzo Maresca at the wheel, the Chelsea Project might just be coming into fruition.
PSG, meanwhile, will have to go back to the drawing board with their long and exhausting season finally coming to a close with a boatload of trophies, something that was unimaginable when their talismanic forward Kylian Mbappe left at the start of the season. Coach Luis Enrique will now need to find a way around the weaknesses that Chelsea laid bare, especially against long balls, ahead of the new season.
