Chelsea are champions of the world, and they will wear a badge on their shirts that says so for the next four years.
A season that saw the Blues lose to Ipswich and Legia Warsaw, finish as the fourth-best team in England and play in the third tier of European football ends with them being crowned world champions — and if all of that makes very little sense to you, imagine how it feels to be a part of it.
Chelsea have signed two players and sold one during their month in the United States — they are not a club that stands still. And in this inaugural edition of the expanded 32-team Club World Cup, they certainly didn’t stand still.
If, before the final, some might have raised a finger to eagerly point out that the draw had opened up for the Blues after other European heavyweights crashed out, they cannot do so now. Chelsea thrashed the all-conquering European champions Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium and were good value for their 3-0 win as they produced their finest performance of a 51-week, 65-game season that is now, finally, over.
Chelsea’s extraordinary ability to immobilise the team that thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-final and Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final did see PSG spill over towards the end. Joao Neves was sent off for a petulant tug of Marc Cucurella’s long locks of hair, and as the Blues’ bench piled on to the pitch to celebrate in ‘world champion’ shirts, an incensed Gianluigi Donnarumma came together with Chelsea players, and PSG manager Luis Enrique even struck Joao Pedro in the face.
The last ball had been kicked and yet this was the very first glove the Parisians had landed on Joao Pedro, the new recruit having provided Chelsea with the extra gas they needed in the latter stages of this tournament. His sensational dink for the third goal made it three goals in two starts since he joined up mid-tournament after signing from Brighton. He was a thorn in their side all game.
Moises Caicedo, Pedro Neto, the substitute Liam Delap, the unbeatable Robert Sanchez — there were so many individual performances to single out. But Chelsea’s matchwinner was, fittingly, none other than their poster boy. The irrepressible Cole Palmer scored two sumptuous finishes into the bottom-left corner, assisted Pedro, and toyed with PSG.
Chelsea will pocket at least £87million for winning the Club World Cup, genuinely meaningful money however rich you are. Just as important, perhaps more so, though, is how encouraging this performance was.
Enzo Maresca told his players to chance on playing a high line, just as Enrique did his. But while that proved the undoing of PSG, it worked a treat for the Blues. Their pacey defence mopped up most of PSG’s threatening attacks. Those who weren’t stopped were to find Sanchez impenetrable.
And the hunger from Chelsea’s front line boded so well. Neto, Palmer and Pedro countered at pace into the gaping holes PSG left wide open. And when Pedro came off, his replacement, Delap, did not stop running, twice nearly scoring to turn 3-0 into 4-0. Chelsea were not to be denied.
Their seventh match of the tournament produced their greatest performance, as a second piece of silverware brought to an end their exhausting season. Chelsea are back in the big time. It is hard to argue otherwise.
