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 (highlights Chelsea/PSG). After the match, the English team’s coach Enzo Maresca spoke at a press conference. He was understandably pleased, and gave some pointers on the instructions given to the players.
Maresca “we were very aggressive, we exploited the spaces we found.”
“We won the Club World Cup and we should be proud of that. As I said on Friday, for me PSG is the best team in the world, with one of the best coaches in the world and fantastic players. Today (Sunday) is a very good result.”
Game plan?
When we analyzed this team, we saw that we could exploit the gaps. Cole (Palmer) and Malo (Gusto) were tasked with occupying these intervals and creating splits down the flanks. It worked well today. After that, you can always give the players a plan, but it’s up to them to implement it. The idea was to opt for intense marking. We managed to do that right from the start. We knew it might be hard to hold out for 90 minutes, but we were very aggressive, exploiting the spaces we found.
Maresca: “We won the game in the first ten minutes.
I’m happy for them, they deserve this win. We won this match in the first ten minutes. The message was: make them understand that we’re here to win and not to be extras. That set the tone for the match. After that, the quality of the players did the rest. I have a lot of respect for PSG and their coach, but I prepared this match to win it. If someone had told me it would be 3-0 at half-time, I wouldn’t have expected such a score. But we were there to give it our all”, comments relayed by L’Equipe.
Chelsea’s coach had every reason to be pleased, as his team pulled off a major coup against the Parisians on Sunday. The European champions, who impressed on several occasions during this Club World Cup, fell. The scoreline may be a little harsh, but Maresca and his men deserved their success.
They were particularly strong in the first half, taking full advantage of PSG’s mistakes. It’s all down to the hard work of the staff and the coach, and a lot of effort from the players. It’s a great performance to finish the season and win a title. It’s a great moment to savour. Paris is back to the unpleasant feeling it’s no longer used to. We have to accept it, rest and prepare for what’s to come. The mercato is inevitably expected.
