East Rutherford. NJ – It is the type of performance that quickly sucked up the life of the opposition. The players in large spaces have seized every moment they could find, catching the opponents by surprise, marking early enough to put the game out of reach at halftime. That’s how it Paris Saint-Germain played in the final of the UEFA Champions League against Inter, and again in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup against Real Madrid on Wednesday. It was also how Chélat Played at Metlife Stadium on Sunday, beating PSG in their own match to win the first edition of the Extended Club World Cup.
“When we immediately set the tone,” said Levi Colwill de Chelsea. “We supported life. We knew that it was our last football match for the season, so there is no way that I was going to go on vacation and sit there thinking:` `I would have liked to be able to give a little more for the team ”, and I told everyone before, and we went and gave everything and that is what the score reflects and that is why we won today.
The state of mind looked like an all-and-no-briseted style of PSG which has made them the most entertaining team in Europe in the last six months, quickly crushing the opposition on the road to their first title of the Champions League and by making the favorites to win the Club World Cup. They quickly tasted their own medication in the suburbs of New York-they looked quickly tired while Chelsea took the game, going down 2-0 to half an hour thanks to a scope of Cole Palmer and concede a third before the break thanks to Joao Pedro. Fatigue settles quickly for PSG, individual players peeling off one by one while a victory quickly slipped out of reach. Frustration started with a few stretched moments, especially with Joao Neves“Red card of the 899th minute and an post-match fight involving PSG manager, Luis Enrique, and Joao Pedro de Chelsea.
“I think PSG is a team that, either you press them high, or you will have trouble because they have so many talented players,” said Manager Enzo Maresca, “but if you give them time to connect and take the ball, they are so good than in my personal advice, if you give them time, then you will be worse.”
Chelsea, however, turned things up. In a match between two teams who prefer to hold the ball, the Blues have joyfully gave up possession at PSG and had only 34% possession when everything was said and done. The attack plan was however solid – they surpassed PSG 10 to eight and displayed 2.06 goals expected at 0.53 of the opponent. The first half-time intense has paved the way for a routine, the mission is more or less accomplished by half-time.
“They have three fields in the field,” noted Maresca. “Two of them [Neves and Fabian Ruiz]They were in charge for Reece [James] And Modes [Caicedo]. Vitinha was in charge for Enzo [Fernandez]. Analyzes, we saw that it was a good opportunity to exploit this space and we used Cole and Malo [Gusto] on this side to create a little and overload this side and [tat] Was just the match plan. “”
Taking the tone, like Colwill, was crucial for the success of Maresca’s plan.
“The idea was to go to man to man,” said Maresca. “I think PSG, they are so good that if you give them time, you will have trouble. In my personal opinion, you have to support them very intense. I think the first 10 minutes, we were able to do it. In our ideal world, we have to do it for 90 minutes, 95 but we knew it because of the weather conditions, [it] It was not possible to do for a long time, but we tried to be very aggressive, did not give them time, then on the ball, we had very good times. We have exploited the space we had planned and [it] was very good. “”
It comes as a little shock that Palmer, the brightest star of the blues, would deliver in moments like this. THE England International is used to delivering in major moments and is easily at the top of the depth painting while the 20 Chelsea attackers do what they can to save precious playing time. The surprise, however, was that Joao Pedro also felt like a natural adjustment on the ground alongside Palmer. Less than two weeks ago, Joao Pedro was still in the books of Brighton and Hove Albion, but now has three goals in three games for Chelsea, winning a departure in the final on Liam Delap, who was the choice earlier in the competition.
Maresca praised Joao Pedro for his versatility, noting that he can play in several positions on the front line, but his ability to have an impact against the organized defenses makes him a rapid favorite with the manager.
“Joao, I can say, is an incredible player,” said Maresca. “We can really use it with teams that defend themselves in a very low block without spaces because it is really good in restricted spaces.”
The vision of this version of Chelsea may not have always been clear, but a year after the rental of Maresca, the chaos of the building on the list is still looming three years after Blueco acquired the American club and businessman Todd Boehly assumed his role as president. Even in the midst of disorganization, the victory of the Chelsea club World Cup offered an overview of what they can be in their best – and that their belief in a group of rising talents is well founded. But first, a well -deserved break is in order.
“I think that during this season, we are heading for the right direction and we have finished our season very well and now we have raised this trophy, a fantastic trophy,” said Maresca. “About the future, fortunately, I have three weeks of vacation now because that’s all I want. It’s been 15 months without stopping, and then we will see what will happen next season.”
