How Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain at their own game to claim Club World Cup glory

Chelsea beat PSG 3-0 on Sunday, scoring each of their goals in the first half

EAST RUTHERFORD. N.J. – It was the type of performance that sucked the life out of the opposition quickly. Players in wide spaces seized every moment they could find, catching the opponents by surprise, scoring early enough to put the game out of reach by halftime. That is how Paris Saint-Germain played in the UEFA Champions League final against Inter, and again in their Club World Cup semifinal against Real Madrid on Wednesday. It was also how Chelsea played at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, beating PSG at their own game to win the first edition of the expanded Club World Cup.

"Going into the game straightaway, we set the tone," Chelsea's Levi Colwill said post-match. "We pressed the life out of them. We knew this was our last game of football for the season so there's no way I was going to go on holiday and sit there thinking, 'I wish I could have gave that little bit more for the team,' and I've told everyone this before, and we went and gave everything and that's what the scoreline reflects and that's why we won today."

The mindset resembled PSG's all-gas-no-breaks style that made them Europe's most entertaining team for the last six months, quickly overwhelming the opposition en route to their first Champions League title and making them the favorites to win the Club World Cup. They got a taste of their own medicine quickly in the New York City suburbs – they looked fatigued quickly as Chelsea took the game to them, going down 2-0 by the half-hour mark thanks to a brace from Cole Palmer and conceding a third before the break thanks to Joao Pedro. Fatigue quickly set in for PSG, the individual players fading one by one as a win quickly slipped out of reach. Frustration kicked in with a few tense moments, most notably with Joao Neves' 89th-minute red card and a post-match scuffle involving PSG manager Luis Enrique and Chelsea's Joao Pedro.