Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea faced off this Sunday at New York’s MetLife Stadium in the final of the 2025 Club World Cup. The match ended in a 3-0 defeat for Paris (Chelsea/PSG video summary). After the match, João Pedro, the 23-year-old striker for the English team, spoke to Sport TV. In particular, he spoke about the brawl that broke out at the end of the match.
“I went to protect Andrey Santos. I saw that the players were surrounding him. As a good Brazilian, I went to protect my friend. There were a lot of people around and in all the chaos, I was pushed. That’s part of the game. But they don’t know how to lose. Now it’s time to celebrate.
As is so often the case in this kind of situation, the blame is certainly shared, and everyone’s account tends to incriminate the other side. It’s hard to say that one side is more responsible than the other. There are also words and gestures that lead to tension and outbursts. Even the referee can be held responsible, with his decisions and his responses to the players as the match progressed.
PSG were tense, disappointed and frustrated to lose like that. You have to respect certain limits, however, and it’s regrettable that that wasn’t the case here. João Pedro is exaggerating, however, as Paris is not always a bad loser. Chelsea were also a bit provocative.
