'Chelsea were better than us' — PSG captain Marquinhos reacts to stunning Club World Cup final

No one was more shocked by Chelsea's 3-0 victory in the FIFA Club World Cup final than Paris Saint-Germain, who looked a shell of the side that scored 16 goals and allowed just one in their run to Sunday's showpiece match.

 

Faced with an unplayable Cole Palmer and a Chelsea side determined to get the upper hand as early as possible, PSG wilted in the New Jersey heat at MetLife Stadium and put forth their worst effort of the tournament at the worst possible time.

It was an unfortunate end to the tournament for the club from the French capital, but PSG captain Marquinhos gave credit to Chelsea for taking advantage of their weaknesses on the biggest stage and drawing up a blueprint for future opponents to follow.

"Tactically, they made things difficult for us," Marquinhos said after the match. "We were slow to react. These are things we're going to work on for the future.

"All the teams will be looking at us from now on. It's up to us to be at the top of our game. They won the physical battle. We were a bit below our best. They were very effective with their chances. That changes everything.

"We had chances but we didn't manage to score."

PSG entered Sunday's match as favourites to bring home the Club World Cup trophy and add it to an impressive haul that includes a treble by the Ligue 1 giants over the past season.

Instead, the Parisians head back across the Atlantic with runners-up medals, but Marquinhos does not think the team's supporters will harbour negative feelings following an otherwise very successful campaign.

"The fans are always with us," he said. "We really wanted to bring this trophy back to Paris ... I'm sorry, it's a shame for us, we didn't succeed. But that doesn't take anything away from this season.

"I think the fans are very proud of this team, even if we lost, with our strength and our philosophy. We didn't hide. Chelsea were better than us."

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