Enzo Maresca lauds importance of FIFA Club World Cup after masterminding Chelsea triumph

Chelsea's FIFA Club World Cup-winning boss Enzo Maresca believes the tournament will become one of the most important trophies in football after leading his side to victory over Paris Saint-Germain.

The Blues stunned the European Champions with a near-perfect first half that saw Cole Palmer net twice and set up a third for Joao Pedro as they became the first winners of the revamped tournament and earned the title of 'world champions.' 

The competition has had its sceptics both before and during proceedings in the USA, but speaking after the triumph, Maresca played up the Club World Cup and how it is seen in the future. 

He said: “I think it will become as important as the Champions League and we value it as much as winning the Champions League."  

Chelsea 3-0 PSG | FIFA Club World Cup Final Highlights

The Premier League side went into the game as underdogs against the French champions, who are being talked about in the same breath as the great Barcelona teams of the past. 

However, they were shaken up by Chelsea and never got going once Palmer had put Maresca's side into the lead just after the twenty-minute mark. 

The Italian boss revealed the plan he put into place to beat the Champions League winners and lead the Blues to their second continental trophy in 2025. 

Maresca added: “Analysing them, we saw that it was a good opportunity if we could exploit that space. We put Cole and Malo on that side and created a little overload. It was just a game plan. We tried to use a different game plan.

“We tried to help the players to be in position to give everything. Today it worked quite well. It has been the effort from the team and all the players. I am very happy, especially for them, because they deserve the moment.

“I reiterate we analysed the game and we could say there was quite a lot of space on the left wing for PSG and we could see we could exploit that flank. I think we win the game in the first ten minutes.

“We came out on the pitch to show we were here to give it our all and take the win. I have the utmost respect for the opponents. You can give your players a detailed plan but they have to exploit it and they do so well.

“We respect PSG however we had a plan to prepare with a view to win the game. Had you told me we were going to win 3-0 in the first half I wouldn't have expected that. We knew we were going to put up a fight and we knew our squad is really competitive against talented teams.

“In my personal opinion, if you give them time, then you will be worse off, and that is what we tried to do. The idea was to go man-to-man. PSG are so good if you give them time you will struggle. You have to press them intensely.

“The first ten minutes we were able to do it and our idea worked. We knew it wasn't possible to do it for a long time. We tried to be very aggressive and don't give them time on the all we had some very good moments, we exploited the space.”

Usyk vs Dubois 2 only on DAZN

Watch Usyk versus Dubois 2 live and exclusive on DAZN PPV this Saturday - July 19 - for  £24.99 UK; $59.99 US; $19.99/equivalent ROW.  Buy the PPV now here.