Chelsea had more than one reason to celebrate on Sunday as they thrashed tournament favourites Paris Saint-Germain to win the expanded Fifa Club World Cup.
Cole Palmer notched two goals and one assist in a sensational first half as Chelsea beat European champions PSG 3-0 in the final at the MetLife Stadium.
The 23-year-old winger scored in the 22nd and 30th minutes and Joao Pedro secured the third goal right before half time, capitalising on Palmer's fine touch into the box. At the other end of the pitch, Robert Sanchez saved six shots in his best showing of the tournament.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca praised Palmer's ability to rise to the occasion after the England international was named player of the tournament.
“These are the games we expect Cole Palmer to appear and once again he showed what he is made of,” Maresca said.
Chelsea hit jackpot
The Premier League side can be proud of their performance against a side Maresca described before the match as “probably the best team in the world”.
It capped a fruitful season for Chelsea who came to the United States fresh from finishing fourth in the Premier League and winning the Uefa Conference League.
There was another major factor fuelling Chelsea, and other teams, at the 32-team Club World Cup. Fifa had announced the biggest ever prize pool of $1 billion, which was bigger than the one for the previous Fifa World Cup.
Teams were handed substantial participation fees in addition to a share of the prize money at each stage of the tournament.
Tournament winners Chelsea took home the biggest slice of the prize fund, earning a little more than $114 million.
According to the BBC and football finance website The Swiss Ramble, Chelsea were given an appearance fee of $28.7m.
Apart from that, Chelsea received $85.625m for their results in the tournament. That adds up out to $114.325m.
Breakdown of Chelsea's prize money
Group stage ($2m per win) – $4m
Last 16 – $7.5m
Quarter-final – $13.125m
Semi-final – $21m
Final win – $40m
Other top European clubs in the tournament such as finalists PSG ($105m) and Real Madrid (89m) received substantial financial boosts, which is likely to impact the transfer market.
Sour end to tournament
All was not well at the end of it all, however. Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique said he was “just trying to separate the players” after being caught up in a scuffle on the pitch at the end of his team's defeat to Chelsea.
Television footage showed the PSG boss raising his arm to the neck of Joao Pedro, who had earlier scored Chelsea's third goal.
“There was pushing and shoving, a lot of tension and pressure. The situation obviously should have been avoided,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“My intention was clearly to just try to separate the players.”
Defeat for PSG denied them what would have been a stunning clean sweep of trophies as they failed to add the Club World Cup to the Uefa Champions League and French league-and-cup double.
“I think over the course of the game they deserved their win. They played very well,” Luis Enrique said of Chelsea.
“I said beforehand that Chelsea were a very good team and they deserve their victory and the trophy.”
