Manager of Premier League side, Chelsea, Enzo Maresca has revealed the secret of his side’s triumph over Paris Saint-Germain in the World Club Cup final at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey on Sunday.
The Blues secured a 3-0 victory over the French side, with a brace from Cole Palmer and a strike from Joao Pedro. The win ensured that the club claimed its second title in the competition, having previously won it in 2021.
Maresca has explained how Chelsea achieved the feat, revealing that the club mapped out a plan to win the match by being aggressive.
‘‘The idea was to go man-to-man,’’ Maresca said.‘’PSG are so good that if you give them time you are going to struggle. You have to press them very intensely. In the first 10 minutes we were able to do it.
‘‘In our ideal world we have to do that for 90 minutes but we knew because of the weather it was not possible to do it for a long time. But we tried to be very aggressive and not give them time. Then on the ball we had some very good moments, we exploited the space that we planned, it was very good.
‘‘I think PSG are a team that you either press them high or you will be in trouble because they have so many talented players, if you give them time to link up and get the ball they are so good.
‘‘I think we won the game in the first 10 minutes and the message before the game was to make them understand that we are here to win the game. I think the first 10 minutes the team was there. It probably set a little bit the tone of the game. Then again the quality of the players, the game plan, everything was good.’’
Chelsea have now claimed the $40 million earmarked for the winner of the competition. The money was recently increased to encourage competitiveness.
