This Sunday evening, Paris Saint-Germain lost 3-0 (highlights Chelsea/PSG) to Chelsea in the final of the 2025 Club World Cup at New York’s MetLife Stadium. We take a look at some of the highlights and lowlights of the victory.

Contents

Tops –

A successful competition

This final match was a long ordeal for the Parisians, who didn’t deserve to win this final round, but they went to the end of the season, to the end of things, and still had a great World Cup.

Players at the end of their tether, trying in vain

We didn’t see any more despondency than was justified in the game (in the attitudes, yes). PSG were just a little weaker in this match, but right to the end they tried to score at least one goal. The players are to be congratulated for playing with limited resources. None of the players can really be singled out for special praise, given their chaotic performances, but it can’t be said that they didn’t try. They made too many mistakes, but wanted to believe. A match to forget in a fantastic year.

Flops –

The end of the match, Luis Enrique’s plomp, a PSG that went off the rails

You’ve got to know how to win, PSG proved that, and now you’ve got to know how to lose, and we’ve seen that it’s immediately less pleasing. Luis Enrique made a nasty gesture, which will have to be punished, because PSG mustn’t behave like that. As for the players, Neves cracked and so did Donnarumma. We saw some nasty fouls and a lot of protests. Yes, Chelsea didn’t look good in the second half, but no, PSG can’t get frustrated like that and give off that (off-field) image.

Beraldo catastrophic, Nuno Mendes back to the future

Beraldo reminded those who don’t like him why he is so criticized. His match was borderline malpractice at times. Nuno Mendes, on the other hand, was back to being a player who forgets himself and loses concentration.

Midfield ends on a sour note

So good, so praised, this midfielder did nothing but suffer in this match. Exhausted? Perhaps. Countered well? Surely. Chelsea’s tactics were perfect. PSG knew that their opponents would find the keys to beating them, and it’s now time for a new season to get underway, with adjustments, novelty and an undiminished desire to surprise. On Sunday evening, PSG were too predictable, because this team is now being scrutinized by every opposing coach. We’ll have to reinvent ourselves, because that’s what top-level football is all about.

Kvaratskhelia and Dembélé without ideas

When your attack performs well, everything is rosy and beautiful. When your attack has no ideas and no physical means of imposing top-level opposition, then there’s not much to be done. From now on, it’s the vacations that are just around the corner, and in view of the match, it’s about time. That’s not to take anything away from Paris’s great season, but on Sunday, there was nobody on the pitch with enough juice to get forward properly.