Palmer stars as Chelsea stun PSG to win Club World Cup final
PSG were the favourites for a game attended by Donald Trump after coming to the United States fresh from winning the UEFA Champions League and having destroyed Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals.
But having been three goals ahead midway through the first half in the semis, this time the roles were reversed as PSG found themselves 3-0 down by the break.
Palmer 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.
A 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.
It was a scoreline that few could have predicted as Chelsea capped what has been a long but memorable season – 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.
They 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.
For 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.
Nevertheless, conquering Europe was always the main aim this season for Luis Enrique's 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.
There was a real sense of occasion at the MetLife Stadium, with the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and with President Trump in attendance along with First Lady Melania Trump in a crowd of 81,118.
There was even the first-ever half-time show at a FIFA tournament, adding a Super Bowl feel to a final played at the home of NFL sides the New York Giants and New York Jets.
As for the football, for the second time in six weeks PSG found themselves involved in a final that quickly turned into a one-sided affair.
The club claimed a historic 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, but here they were ripped apart by Chelsea on another hot afternoon.
Palmer almost put Chelsea ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, before PSG should have scored at the other end only for Desire Doue to try to pass to Achraf Hakimi rather than shoot inside the box, allowing Cucurella to block.
It was Chelsea who struck 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.
Palmer has been the face of Chelsea on billboards in the United States during the tournament and he lived up to his star billing by scoring again on the half-hour.
Released 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.
Joao 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.
PSG 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
Soccer-Club World Cup will be bigger than Champions League, says Chelsea's Colwill
Soccer Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Final - Chelsea v Paris St Germain - MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. - July 13, 2025 Chelsea's Reece James and teammates celebrate with the trophy alongside U.S. President Donald Trump after winning the FIFA Club World Cup REUTERS/Hannah Mckay (Reuters) -Chelsea defender Levi Colwill said the Club World Cup will be bigger than the Champions League after his side beat European champions Paris St Germain 3-0 in the final in New Jersey on Sunday. The quadrennial competition will return in 2029, which will be the second edition under the expanded format with 32 teams. "This is the biggest trophy I've ever won. I think the Club World Cup will be bigger than the Champions League and we were the first team to win it," the 22-year-old Colwill said. "I've really enjoyed it, playing games every four or five days. Playing to sold-out stadiums, playing against different teams who you would never normally get a chance to play." The England international said Chelsea would carry the momentum forward having beaten a phenomenal PSG side who had conceded only one goal in the tournament before the final. "I said at the start of this tournament that our plan is to win it and people looked at me as if I was crazy. So I'm going to say the exact same thing now going into the Premier League and Champions League," Colwill said. Chelsea have won the Champions League twice, in 2012 and 2021. (Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru)
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Motor racing-Formula E rookie test pits women alongside the men in Berlin
Formula One F1 - British Grand Prix - Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Britain - July 2, 2022 Racing X's Abbi Pulling celebrates with a trophy after finishing third in the W Series race REUTERS/Molly Darlington (Reuters) -Formula E would love to have a female driver back on the starting grid but, on times alone, the all-electric series' rookie test in Berlin on Monday suggested that it remained some way off. Four women took part in the test after weekend races at Tempelhof but the highest in the overall classification was Abbi Pulling, last year's F1 Academy champion and current GB3 competitor, in 17th with the Nissan team. Fellow-Briton Ella Lloyd, who competes in British F4 and F1 Academy, was 18th for McLaren and Jamie Chadwick, three-times winner of the now-defunct W Series and a Williams F1 development driver now racing in European Le Mans, was 19th for Jaguar. Bianca Bustamante of the Philippines, a GB3 racer with 1.7 million followers on Instagram, was 22nd and last for the Cupra Kiro team although the entire grid was separated by just 1.550 seconds. Italian Gabriele Mini was overall fastest for Nissan in a field that included former F1 racer Daniil Kvyat, Charles Leclerc's younger brother Arthur and leading Formula Two drivers. Formula E chief executive Jeff Dodds told Reuters ahead of the test that he was optimistic a woman would make it back onto the grid before too long. "We went from no women testing really, to 20 women in the official women's test last year and off the back of that we've actually got four women testing in the actual rookie test now in Berlin," he said. "So that's a big jump, we've made progress. "In the end the teams will make a choice based on what their objectives are in terms of building a fan base, promoting themselves as a team, bringing on sponsors and partners and being as successful as they can be. "It may not be next year but I would love over the next couple of years to see women back racing on that grid." Three women have raced in the series, which is now in its 11th season -- Britain's Katherine Legge twice in 2014, Switzerland's Simona de Silvestro started 12 times in 2015-16 and Michela Cerruti four times in 2014-15. De Silvestro is the only one to have scored points. Unlike Formula E, Formula One has not had a woman start a race since Lella Lombardi in 1976. Pulling, who was top in last year's all-female test, told Reuters recently she saw Formula E as "a really viable career path in the future". "For now I'm going to keep going up the ladder as far as possible and see where things take me," she said. "I don't have the finances to plan massively in advance so it all depends on how I perform this year." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge)
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Soccer-Real sign their former youth player Carreras from Benfica
Soccer Football - FIFA Club World Cup - Group C - Boca Juniors v Benfica - Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, U.S. - June 16, 2025 Benfica's Alvaro Fernandez Carreras reacts REUTERS/Hannah Mckay/File Photo (Reuters) -Real Madrid have signed defender Alvaro Carreras from Benfica, the LaLiga club said on Monday, marking a return to the Spanish side for the 22-year-old after he previously spent three years at Real's academy. The Spanish left back, who played at the recent Club World Cup, has signed a six-year contract, for a reported fee of 50 million euros ($58.31 million), according to Spanish media. He becomes Real's third defensive signing during the close season, after Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, as they look to strengthen a department which has suffered several injuries in recent seasons. Carreras left Real for Manchester United in 2020, mainly appearing with their Under-23 side, and while the Spaniard did receive call-ups to the senior squad he never made a senior appearance at the Premier League club. He had loan spells at Preston North End and Granada, before another loan move brought Carreras to Benfica in January 2024, making his debut for the Portuguese club one week later. Carreras made 11 league appearances for Benfica in those first few months in Portugal, and the club signed him on a permanent deal from United at the end of the season. ($1 = 0.8576 euros) (Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Christian Radnedge)
