Despite starting as underdogs to European champions Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea simply blew the illustrious French side away in the first final of Fifa's enlarged Club World Cup in New Jersey's 80,000-seat MetLife stadium.
A 3-0 win saw Cole Palmer crowned man of the match after the elusive midfielder scored two and made the third for new star signing Joao Pedro — with goalie Robert Sanchez pulling off several crucial saves to keep a clean sheet.
It means that the Blues can finally get to the sun loungers for some holiday time ahead of the start of the new season. There is now a real buzz of anticipation in SW6, and the hope that the close-passing, swift-countering, hard-pressing tactics that manager Enzo Maresca saw followed to the letter in the States will transfer to the Premier League next month.
Owner Todd Boehly, sharing chit-chat with President Trump, who presented the Tiffany trophy before deciding to remain on the podium with the celebrating players, must now feel his £1bn investment in young signings is properly paying off.
Despite only lifting the third-tier European Conference League cup, and facing a PSG side that not only won the Champions League but also blitzed Real Madrid 4-0 in the semis of this surprisingly entertaining end-of-season tournament, Chelsea outclassed a side which simply couldn't get into gear for the big match.
In the dying minutes, as all hope for the French side faded, PSG's Joao Neves yanked Marc Cucurella's hair, earning a red card after the ref had been directed to the VAR review screen.
But the game had already been won by Chelsea. Palmer scored his first, just inside the post, on 22 minutes, before adding an identical second. He then teed up Pedro for a third before half-time, with the ball looping over PSG's 6ft 5in keeper Gigi Donnarumma.
Maresca, often disappearing in a cloud of cool mist which was being sprayed into the dugout to counter the 32 degree heat, jumped around like a playful puppy as the goals went in.
He'd authorised Sanchez to hoof the ball long up the pitch at regular intervals – a tactic PSG struggled to contain, especially when sub Liam Delap galloped forward to set up a string of regular 50:50s against the last defender as the game stretched out in the second half.
Crystal Palace, who face Chelsea in the first match when the domestic season resumes, will have been watching with immense interest!
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
