5 days ago
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You had to scratch your eyes at one point. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, on the podium with the Chelsea squad lifting the FIFA Club World Cup trophy... what?
It was something you would assume was Photoshopped, or had been through AI. But no. That really happened. It was remarkable - in all senses of the word - at the MetLife Stadium.
Paris Saint-Germain came into the final as favourites and you could not really argue with that pre-match. The job Luis Enrique has done at Parc des Princes is extraordinary. The Spaniard has built PSG into a winning machine full of young and hungry talent.
People rightly pointed to the Paris-based club as inspiration for Chelsea, who are trying something similar in terms of young talent coming through. Yet to anyone watching, it was PSG who should be looking at what Chelsea do.
The majority of the Blues squad we spoke to pre-match seemed confident and bullish. There has never been any doubt from the point of view of the players, even when times were tough. Such confidence has been the foundation for what has been an incredible almost-three months.
Since the late win over Fulham on April 20, it has been an upward trajectory for Chelsea; a rising path that has shown no signs of coming to an end. Enzo Maresca, like his counterpart on Sunday, has turned his side into a winning machine.
Chelsea made PSG look ordinary in New Jersey. No, actually, they made them look like a pub team at times. The European champions. A pub team.
PSG were unable to get out at points in the first-half. People were predicting the French champions' press to hurt Chelsea, but it was the opposite in the final. The Blues pitched up in PSG's half and looked to punish them. That they did.
Palmer magic and Maresca genius
Cole Palmer proved to be the world-class talent we have all known he is for a while. The 23-year-old endured his fair share of critics and doubters over the course of the now-concluded 2024/25 season, but he has saved his two best performances for when it really matters: the Conference League final and the Club World Cup final.
Palmer punished PSG for being sloppy. Ultimately, though, the French side's sloppiness was caused by Chelsea and Maresca getting everything spot on in New Jersey. Maresca knew Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz would look to mark Reece James and Moises Caicedo, while Enzo Fernandez would be watched by Vitinha.
Problem for Chelsea? No, not at all. Maresca saw it as an opportunity. As the best tactical minds in football do, the Italian found a solution. He doubled up on Nuno Mendes. Malo Gusto played as an overlapping full-back - something we have not seen much under Maresca - while holding width on the right-hand side. Palmer, meanwhile, would look to cut in when Gusto was on the outside of him.
"Yeah, as you said, there are three midfielders, two of them were in charge of Reece and Moi this point, and Vitinha was in charge of Enzo," Maresca replied when asked to explain how he got the better of his counterpart Enrique. "Analysing them, we saw that was a good opportunity to exploit that space, and we scored a goal on that side.
"It was just a game plan, as we said many times, we tried to use different game plans, and we tried to help the players to be in a position where they can give everything. Today, it worked quite well. But overall, I think, as I just said, it has been the effort from all the team, all the players, and I'm very happy, especially for them, because they deserve this moment."
It was surprising how an elite manager like Enrique did not look to solve the problem sooner. Maresca had his number. What he did seems really simple, but not many get the better of Enrique in tactical battles. Genius from Maresca and magic from Palmer - a truly dangerous combination.
Chelsea on top of the world
Turn back the clock to June 3, 2024, when Chelsea announced their decision to appoint Maresca as the club's new head coach. The Italian, an inexperienced figure at this level, was handed a five-year contract with the option of a further 12 months. A statement from the Blues and their ownership group given their track record with managers/head coaches.
A month-or-so following his appointment, when Chelsea were in Atlanta for their pre-season tour of the United States, club sources explained to football.london just why they were so excited about their future under Maresca. And a month in, those things are easy to say, but when things started to get a bit more difficult for the Blues - from late-December to around late-April, really - they stood by their man.
Sources continued to reiterate their confidence in the head coach and they were adamant he was the perfect man to spearhead a long-term project that was too much for the likes of Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino. Some supporters started to get on Maresca's back but the players never lost faith in their head coach. And he squeezed every drop out of them from April 20 - the late win against Fulham that was such a significant moment in the season - to this very day.
Two major trophies and qualification for the Champions League. In his three weeks off, Maresca can sit back and smoke on his beloved Partagas cigar he told us about last summer. He has earned that. Chelsea are on top of the world.
The colour blue was shining from New York's famous Empire State Building for an hour after the Club World Cup final. The 1250-feet-tall building, one of the most recognisable in the world, has a viewing experience called "Top of the World". Chelsea have their own experience of that now.
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