Chelsea aim for statement win over PSG which no one can belittle | OneFootball

Blues have bragging rights over PSG after last summer’s Club World Cup, not that few onlookers cared

Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain’s last dance came in the blazing heat of New Jersey at last summer’s Club World Cup final, where Luis Enrique struck Joao Pedro in the face in a red-misted mass brawl between the teams at full-time, the Blues 3-0 winners and crowned world champions.

Chelsea’s rout of the reigning European champions last summer means they have nothing to prove in the eyes of some, but not in the eyes of all. The inaugural edition of the expanded Club World Cup was a competition belittled by many, and a majority of the European giants involved did not produce their best football at a tournament which elongated an already draining season, when most players would otherwise have been on their holidays.

Ben Whitley/PA Wire

Chelsea, to their credit, were locked in, were deserving winners for the way they overcame obstacles along the way, then completely muzzled their much-fancied opponents in the final. Liam Rosenior, seven months from taking the helm at Chelsea, was in the stands in Charlotte for their round of 16 match against Benfica, which required extra time and lasted more than four hours due to a weather delay.

A new head coach is in charge now in Rosenior, and — having won, drawn and lost against PSG during his time at Strasbourg — the Englishman will relish the chance to lead Chelsea to victory over PSG in a competition no one can belittle.

Malo Gusto played the full 90 minutes of the final in New Jersey and though keen to reiterate that doing so was not simply “something easy”, the Frenchman openly admitted in the national capital yesterday that beating PSG tonight would be “completely different, because the Champions League is so different”.

What is not so different is the profile of the two teams. With an average age of 23 years and 317 days, PSG are the second-youngest side across Europe’s major leagues. Chelsea are the fourth-youngest at 24 years, 194 days. They are the two youngest teams left in the Champions League.

Club World Cup winners Chelsea beat PSG in the final

REUTERS

“[PSG] won it last year,” Rosenior said, adding: “It doesn't matter the age, I love working with good players. With younger players, their ceiling is higher.”

The finer details — whether it’s Robert Sanchez or Filip Jorgensen in goal, whether it’s right-back or midfield for Reece James — will take care of themselves. More consequentially, a Champions League knockout game at the Parc des Princes appears as effective a method as any to test the growth and maturity within Chelsea’s young squad.

“That’s how you get experience: give experience,” Rosenior said. What a boost to his and Chelsea’s confidence victory would be.

And Chelsea must remember they have the upper hand, here, in one key regard. Yes, their opponents boast global stars like Ousmane Dembele, Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Vitinha. Yes, they are the reigning European champions, 5-0 winners over Inter Milan in last year’s record-breakingly one-sided final. Yes, they are top of their domestic league while Chelsea sit fifth in theirs.

Yet it was Chelsea, not PSG, who finished among the top eight in the league phase. It is they who have a protected home second leg. Rise to the occasion on a huge night in Paris and they can finish the job next Tuesday at Stamford Bridge.