After Chelsea’s 3-0 win in the Club World Cup final on Sunday, PSG manager Luis Enrique remarked, ‘most-match scuffle could have been avoided by everyone’.
Cole Palmer scored twice and set up Joao Pedro for the third to seal it for the Blues in the first half. PSG was reduced to 10 men in the 85th minute as Joao Neves was sent off for tugging Marc Cucurella’s hair after a VAR review.
PSG head coach Enrique appeared to lift his hands to Pedro’s face after the final whistle, escalating tensions. Pedro fell, and the PSG manager was discreetly taken away. Enrique stated everyone could have averted the end-of-match incident.
“At the end of the match, there was a situation that I believe could have been avoided by everyone,” he stated.
“As always, my goal is to win over the players to avoid problems. Internally, stress and pressure are high.”
A PSG official said the situation was serious and should not happen again.
“And from there, there is a series of shoves from a lot of people, which I think we should all avoid and which should not happen again,” he said.
After beating Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals of the expanded 32-team tournament, the European Cup and French league champions underperformed. Enrique stated football is about that and cannot explain everything. He lauded the opposition.
Football is how it is. Luis Enrique: Can’t explain everything. I think they started the game well with pressure, and we gave them a hard time. After that, I think they had scoring chances but didn’t.”
