Cole Palmer delivered a standout performance on Sunday night, scoring twice and assisting once as Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 to win the Club World Cup final in New Jersey.
The 23-year-old midfielder took control of the match early, leading Chelsea to a dominant first-half display at MetLife Stadium. João Pedro added the third, as PSG—European champions and heavy favorites—were outplayed and reduced to 10 men before full time.
Chelsea, who won the tournament in its previous format in 2021, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. PSG defender Nuno Mendes lost the ball to Malo Gusto, who quickly recovered from a blocked shot and found Palmer unmarked near the penalty spot. Palmer finished calmly into the bottom left corner.
After the 30-minute cooling break, Palmer struck again. He collected a through ball from Levi Colwill, cut inside, feinted a pass to wrong-foot a defender, and fired low into the net for his second.
Minutes later, he turned provider. Sprinting up the right side, Palmer picked out João Pedro, who stayed onside and chipped a composed finish over goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
PSG’s night went from bad to worse when João Neves was shown a red card in the 83rd minute for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair. Tempers flared at the final whistle, but the scuffles quickly settled as Chelsea’s players celebrated with their fans.
Speaking to DAZN afterward, Palmer said the team came into the match with something to prove.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “Even better because everyone doubted us before the game, we knew that. To put a fight on like we did, it’s good.”
He credited head coach Enzo Maresca with setting the tone:
“The gaffer put a great game plan out. He knew where the space was going to be. He tried to free me up as much as possible and I just had to repay him and score some goals.”
Palmer was later named player of the tournament. “I like finals,” he added. “It’s happened again.”
Chelsea’s road to the Club World Cup began with a Conference League win in Europe and a fourth-place finish in the Premier League. Maresca, in his first season in charge, had described the final as a “game of chess” with PSG coach Luis Enrique. In the end, it was closer to checkmate.
Maresca’s side pressed high from the start, following a blueprint used by Brazilian club Botafogo—who had earlier beaten PSG in the group stage and were the only side to score against them in their last eight matches.
When Chelsea didn’t win the ball back, they dropped deep. PSG struggled to adapt. The speed and directness usually associated with the French champions was instead coming from Chelsea.
Gusto, Palmer and João Pedro repeatedly found space behind the PSG back line, especially down the left side. Aside from an early miss by Desire Doue, PSG created little.
“They were more effective than us,” PSG captain Marquinhos said after the match. “They worked well on our slight weakness. Tactically, they caused us problems in the first half and we took a while to react.”
He acknowledged that future opponents would likely study the loss closely.
“These are things we’ll need to change going forward. It’s up to us now to always be at the top of our game.”
While the revamped Club World Cup format has faced criticism, its $1 billion prize pool has helped quiet some of it. Of that, $525 million was shared among the 32 participating clubs. Another $475 million was distributed based on performance.
European clubs received participation payouts ranging from $12.8 million to $38.2 million, depending on commercial and sporting metrics. Teams from other continents received fixed amounts: $15.2 million for South American clubs, $9.5 million for North and Central America, Asia, and Africa, and $3.6 million for Oceania.
