Cole Palmer spoke of taking satisfaction at proving doubters wrong after Chelsea‘s 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final on Aunday.
Temperatures soared above 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29.4°C) in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but the Chelsea talisman had ice in his veins as he bagged two goals in eight minutes in the first half.
He earned the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament.
The man of the match in their 4-1 Conference League final win over Real Betis in May, Palmer showed again that he does his best work under the biggest spotlight, as he also recorded an assist for João Pedro in the 43rd minute.
“I like finals. It’s happened again,” he told DAZN.
“It’s a great feeling,” he added. “Even better because everyone doubted us before the game, we knew that. To put a fight on like we did, it’s good.”
Palmer destroyed PSG’s defence in a sensational first half on Sunday, running up and down the right channel before slotting in a tidy left-footed goal in 22nd minute.
He doubled the score eight minutes later, again targeting the bottom-left corner of the goal as the legions of blue-clad Chelsea fans erupted in elation.
European and French champions PSG were coming off an extraordinary season but appeared overwhelmed yet again as Palmer set up Pedro with a neat flick with two minutes left in the first half.
“Today we found a position for him where there was more space to attack,” Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said. “Obviously Cole played really well but the effort from all the players was fantastic.”
“The idea was go man-to-man because if you leave spaces to PSG they will kill you, so we tried to be very aggressive and suffocate them early on and that intensity was crucial in the first 10 minutes due to the scorching heat, that was really difficult conditions to play as the game progresses,” Maresca explained.
The Italian coach highlighted how his team had successfully targeted PSG’s vulnerable flank, adding: “We had a lot of success exploring the left side of their defence, things worked perfectly for us due to the effort the players put.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez won the Golden Glove for his two cleansheets in the tournament while Real Madrid‘s Gonzalo won the Golden Boot after scoring four goals in the LaLiga side’s run to the semifinal.