Ugly image
Four state-of-the-art fighter jets flew over New Jersey to mark the start of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final, only for the final minutes to be a battlefield-style mess.
Cole Palmer's performance decided everything with 2 goals and 1 assist, bringing a surprising 3-0 victory for Chelsea.
PSG went from being a team that received much praise before to a broken, helpless and rude team.
Joao Neves's sending off for pulling Cucurella's hair, Donnarumma's violent end-of-game brawl with Reece James and Luis Enrique's slapping of Joao Pedro all reflected the Champions League champions' poor attitude.
In the stands at MetLife Stadium, President Trump and Chairman Infantino watched in amazement.
They didn't understand what was happening, but knew that the image overshadowed the ending of the new FIFA Club World Cup.
“I was stupid, he pushed me, I pushed him lightly and he fell down,” Luis Enrique lamented to a member of his coaching staff.
In a press conference, Luis Enrique explained what happened: “At the end of the game, I think there was an avoidable situation from all sides, my goal was to separate everyone, there was a lot of pressure and tension. From there there was a series of pushes and shoves from all sides.”
The excuses were clumsy and hard to accept. It was centre-back Presnel Kimpembe – who was not playing – who rushed to hug Luis Enrique after he slapped Joao Pedro.
For his part, Joao Pedro denounced Luis Enrique as “a bad loser” .
When asked about Joao Pedro's words, Luis Enrique still insisted he did nothing wrong.
“I saw Maresca also separating people and then pushing,” Enrique defended. He used Spanish to better explain. “I repeat, it was a situation that could have been avoided by everyone, but there was a lot of tension and pushing from all sides.”
Aggressive because of total defeat
Enzo Maresca responded to questions about the incident: "When the referee blew the whistle to end the match, I went to greet Luis Enrique and the PSG players, then I didn't see what happened."
Chelsea 's coach only spoke about the technical side: "We won the match in the first 10 minutes."
For Maresca, the key is to exploit the wing defended by Nuno Mendes: “We analysed PSG and saw that we could attack that position” .
Indeed – after the grand ceremony, with the powerful voices of Laura Pausini and Robbie Williams – Chelsea completely suffocated PSG as directed by Maresca.
On the technical bench, Luis Enrique seemed in disbelief. It took PSG 10 minutes to create a move in front of the penalty area.
Next to him, assistant Rafael Pol stood up to offer a solution to Luis Enrique. The Spanish coach's instructions were to try to play long balls to Doue and Kvaratskhelia. This tactic failed.
Luis Enrique ran his hand through his hair as PSG were caught in midfield. The impression the European champion gave was of a fighter stunned by his opponent for the first time.
PSG were not used to being stunned by a team like that. Luis Enrique gestured but the gestures were lost among the bewildered players, unable to respond.
As a result, with Cole Palmer taking strides and dribbling elegantly – a figure reminiscent of classic central midfielders – Luis Enrique lost even more control.
After many resounding victories, determined to win the Club World Cup and aiming to surpass Real Madrid in terms of brand, 3 punches from Chelsea made PSG lose control.
Just like "iron fist" Mike Tyson once bit his opponent Evander Holyfield because he refused to accept defeat, Luis Enrique slapped himself in the image he had built over the years when he attacked Joao Pedro.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi defended: “ I think we have the most disciplined and chivalrous coach in the world . He was attacked first and just tried to push the players away.”
The more you defend, the uglier it gets. Sometimes, just keep quiet like Zinedine Zidane did after his famous headbutt on Marco Materazzi, in the 2006 World Cup final.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/luis-enrique-tat-joao-pedro-hung-hang-vi-thua-cuoc-2421456.html
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