Chelsea midfielder scored two goals and made another in 3-0 triumph over PSG
\n EAST RUTHERFORD
\nCole Palmer scored two goals and made another as Chelsea stunned Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Club World Cup on Sunday, beating the European champions 3-0 before lifting the trophy alongside US President Donald Trump.
\nPSG were the favourites after coming to the United States fresh from winning the Champions League and having destroyed Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals.
\nBut having been three goals ahead early on in the semis, this time the roles were reversed as PSG found themselves 3-0 down by the break.
\nPalmer opened the scoring midway through the first half and struck again to make it two on the half-hour mark, before taking advantage of passive defending to set up Joao Pedro for the third on 43 minutes.
\nA bad day for PSG was summed up when Joao Neves was shown red following a VAR review four minutes from the end for pulling Marc Cucurella by the hair off the ball.
\n\u201cBeing Club World Cup champion is something for us to be proud of. We are very happy, especially against a team in PSG who I consider the best in the world with one of the best managers in the world,\u201d said Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca, before hailing match-winner Palmer.
\n\u201cThese are the games where we expect Cole to appear because it is a big game, a big moment, and once again he showed how good he is.\u201d
\nBefore Chelsea got to lift the trophy, tensions spilled over at full-time with players facing off on the pitch and Paris coach Luis Enrique raising his arm to the neck of Joao Pedro.
\n\u201cThere was a lot of pushing and shoving. It was a situation that obviously should have been avoided, but my intention was clearly just to try to separate the players,\u201d said Luis Enrique.
\nThe scoreline was one few could have predicted as Chelsea capped what has been a long but memorable season \u2014 they are the first ever winners of the 32-team Club World Cup having also won the UEFA Conference League and finished fourth in the Premier League.
\nThey will also take away around $125 million in prize money, meaning the prospect of a drastically curtailed summer break before returning for next season will surely feel worth it.
\nFor PSG, meanwhile, the financial rewards are similar but there will be genuine disappointment at falling short of adding this title to their Champions League triumph and French league and cup double.
\nNevertheless, conquering Europe was always the main aim this season for Luis Enrique\u00b4s team, who now have exactly a month to digest this and take a holiday before returning to action in the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.
\nTrump in attendance
\nThere was a real sense of occasion at the MetLife Stadium, with the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and with Trump in attendance along with First Lady Melania Trump in a crowd of 81,118.
\nFor the second time in six weeks PSG found themselves involved in a final that quickly turned into a one-sided affair.
\nThe club claimed a historic 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, but here they were ripped apart by Chelsea.
\nThe opening goal came in the 22nd minute as Malo Gusto got the better of Nuno Mendes down the right before seeing his shot blocked by Lucas Beraldo. The ball came back to Gusto and he teed up Palmer to finish into the bottom-left corner.
\nPalmer has been the face of Chelsea on billboards in the United States during the tournament and he lived up to his star status by scoring again on the half-hour.
\nReleased on the right with PSG left-back Mendes out of position, Palmer advanced towards the box before stroking a low shot into the same corner.
\nJoao Pedro played a part in the build-up to that goal and the Brazilian, signed during the tournament from Brighton, then got his name on the scoresheet to make it 3-0. Scorer of both goals against Fluminense in the semi-finals, he clipped a shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma after being supplied by Palmer.
\nPSG had conceded a single goal in their previous eight matches and they never really looked like producing a comeback, even if Neves headed just wide in first-half stoppage time.
\nSubstitute Liam Delap almost got a fourth for Chelsea midway through the second half, before Neves was shown red to complete a bad day for PSG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea midfielder scored two goals and made another in 3-0 triumph over PSG EAST RUTHERFORD Cole Palmer scored two goals and made another as Chelsea stunned Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Club World Cup on Sunday, beating the European champions 3-0 before lifting the trophy alongside US President Donald Trump. PSG were the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-490332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n