WORLD CHAMPS

CHELSEA baas Enzo Maresca insists that winning the Club World Cup means as much as winning the Champions League after his span klapped Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the final of the first edition of Fifa’s new competition on Sunday.

Maresca wysed after adding the trophy to the Uefa Conference League title his team won in May: “I have the feeling that this competition is going to be as important, if not more important than, the Champions League.”

Maresca only took over at Chelsea a year ago, but was previously on the coaching staff under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City when they won the Champions League in 2023.

The Italian added: “I was lucky to be on the coaching staff of a team that won the Champions League a few years ago, but this competition features the best teams in the world and I think we can value it on the same level.

“It is a great triumph for us and it will allow the Chelsea fans to have that on our shirt for the next four years, so it is a source of pride.”

Maresca said he instructed his manne to go out and take the game to PSG from the off – they went on to net all three goals in the first half with Cole Palmer scoring a brace before Joao Pedro added his name to the scoresheet.

Maresca said: “The message was to let them understand that we were here to win the game and I think in the first 10 minutes we showed them that. That set the tone of the game, and then the quality of the players was also important.”

England international Palmer was named Player of the Match.

The 23-year-old lived up to his superstar billing – his face has appeared on billboards around New York advertising the tournament, alongside the likes of Real Madrid duo Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.

Palmer said: “To score the goals was a great feeling, as was the way the team showed fire out there – the gaffer’s game plan was spot on.

“I just try to do my job every time I go onto the pitch.”