Chelsea received extra motivation from PSG representatives in pre-match event before Club World Cup triumph: Reports

Chelsea players were reportedly given extra motivation after the Premier League club's delegation spotted PSG representatives being too confident at the FIFA dinner before the Club World Cup final. They were quick to pass the message to Enzo Maresca, who got the players charged up with the news ahead of the match.

According to The Times (via Daily Mail), PSG officials at the FIFA dinner were discussing the logistics of their trophy celebration, which the Chelsea delegation noticed. They were not impressed with the overconfidence and ensured that Maresca knew about it before the final.

The Chelsea manager used the information to fire up the players, and they delivered on the pitch. Co-owner Todd Boehly admitted on talkSPORT that nobody gave his side a chance in the FIFA Club World Cup final, which motivated the players. He said:

"Well, we couldn't have wished for a better outcome for our boys, who have done such good work and trained so hard, really came together in America under Enzo's leadership and his direction. No one gave us a chance to beat PSG, and the boys really thrived and grew on that. Watching them come together over the last couple of weeks in America has been very special. I think the form that you've seen is everything we hoped when we were putting this together with [co-sporting directors] Laurence [Stewart] and Paul [Winstanley]."

Cole Palmer scored twice and assisted once as the Blues thrashed PSG 3-0 in the final at the MetLife Stadium on July 13. They were crowned the FIFA Club World Cup champions and will be wearing a Golden Badge on their jersey for the next four seasons.

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Enzo Maresca on how Chelsea managed to beat PSG

The Italian manager spoke to the media after the match and heaped praise on his players for their win. He claimed that Chelsea set the tempo of the game in the first 10 minutes, which put PSG on the back foot. However, they could not maintain that level for the whole 90 minutes due to the heat. Maresca said:

"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."

It was Chelsea's second silverware of the year after winning the UEFA Europa Conference League earlier in the season. They finished fourth in the Premier League and have qualified for the UEFA Champions League next season.

Edited by Aditya Singh