How Did Cole Palmer Lead Chelsea to Club World Cup Victory?

Cole Palmer had an amazing first half, scoring two goals and setting up another as Chelsea easily beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 to win the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday. Palmer scored twice, once in the 22nd minute and once in the 30th minute. Joao Pedro added a third goal right before halftime, scoring off a nice feed from Palmer inside the box.

Robert Sanchez, the goalkeeper, was amazing, making six important stops in his finest game of the tournament. Chelsea, which won the 2021 Club World Cup with only eight clubs, made it to the final following tough wins against Portugal’s Benfica and Brazil’s Palmeiras and Fluminense.

They played PSG, who had just won their first UEFA Champions League title six weeks before. Gianluigi Donnarumma, the PSG custodian, made two saves on five shots on goal. The French team had only given up one goal in their last six tournament games, so their defence was having a hard time.

Frustrations boiled over late in the game when Joao Neves was sent off for tugging Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella’s hair. This left PSG with only 10 players in the 85th minute. After the final whistle, things became worse. PSG head coach Luis Enrique seemed to grip Joao Pedro by the neck while talking to Chelsea players and Donnarumma.

In the 16th minute, Cucurella also produced a key defensive play that kept the score even. Fabian Ruiz’s cross to Désiré Doué looked like it might lead to a scoring chance, but Cucurella skilfully stopped Doué’s attempt to centre the ball. Palmer missed the target by a hair with a left-footed shot in the eighth minute, but he scored six minutes later.

Malo Gusto stopped Nuno Mendes’s errant header and drove into the box. After a smart dribble, his attempt was blocked and bounced back to him, giving him the chance to help Palmer, who scored with a low left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

After a long pass from Levi Colwill, Palmer made Chelsea’s lead even bigger. He casually dribbled around the top of the penalty area and then shot the ball into the bottom left corner almost exactly the same way.

Palmer sent the ball to Pedro between two defenders in the 43rd minute. Pedro blasted the ball past a diving Donnarumma to make it 3-0.

Sanchez ended Chelsea’s strong night with some important saves in the second half, such as a diving stop on Neves’ header in the last minute and a reflex save to keep Ousmane Dembele from scoring from close range.