Chelsea vs PSG predicted lineups for the Club World Cup Final
The managers for the Blues and Les Parisiens can cap their 2024-25 seasons with the first championship of the expanded Club World Cup era while also setting the table for the 2025-26 campaigns by sending a clarion call to Europe, warning of their intentions for the upcoming season.
MORE — Chelsea vs PSG: Club World Cup Final preview
PSG would put the finishing touch on a run for the ages, as Enrique's crew have won everything on offer to this point and done so in fantastic style aside from a slow start to the Champions League's league phase. Enrique has perhaps too-quietly produced a resume most bosses can only deliver in video games.
But Maresca at 45 has become a star himself, leading Leicester City to the Premier League before delivering the Conference League to Chelsea.
So which boss might outfox the other on Saturday? And which players will they choose to match up with their CWC Final foe?
Chelsea predicted lineups for the Club World Cup Final
There isn't a lot of real risk of surprise here, especially with Noni Madueke away from the club.
We'll pick Reece James over Malo Gusto and assume Trevoh Chalobah starts over Tosin Adarabioyo next to Levi Colwill.
Moises Caicedo has seemingly passed a fitness test and will slide into the midfield with Enzo Fernandez.
One surprise we night predict is Joao Pedro and Liam Delap both starting, with Pedro Neto going to the right wing and Pedro going to the left side.
Sanchez
James— Chalobah— Colwill — Cucurella
Caicedo — Fernandez
Neto — Palmer— Joao Pedro
Delap
PSG predicted lineups for the Club World Cup Final
There is little reason to believe Enrique will change anything at all about his team.
We present the best unit available to him:
Donnarumma
Hakimi — Beraldo — Marquinhos — Mendes
Vitinha — Neves — Ruiz
Doue — Dembele — Kvaratskhelia
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From Palmer and domes to Musiala and turf: Club World Cup winners and losers
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In 35 games against non-Uefa opposition at the Club World Cup, Uefa teams won 23, drew seven and lost five. Uefa teams were awarded more than $340m (£253m) of performance-related prize money, which is more than 70% of the total available. Related: Club World Cup dismissed as a Fifa 'fiction' by head of players' union Cole Palmer: The England international was electric in the final against Paris Saint-Germain, scoring twice and assisting on a third as Chelsea ran away as surprise winners. Palmer took over the No 10 shirt for Chelsea this season and it seems the pressure that number tends to bestow upon its wearer has been a benefit to him, rather than a hindrance. His performance in the final followed solid showings in the group stage and knockouts, in which he played a variety of roles behind the striker. Chelsea will hope that he will carry over his great form stateside into the next Premier League season, rather than reproduce the pedestrian showings that marked much of last season. Roofs, domes and the Pacific Northwest: Heat and weather delays were among a few hiccups that disrupted portions of this tournament, except in locations where they were rendered irrelevant. Domed venues, such as Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, were cool and comfortable even amid a mid-tournament heatwave. Seattle's Lumen Field, which hosted six games, was naturally comfortable thanks to its location and the climate in that part of the country. Even Pasadena's Rose Bowl, which experienced one high-heat game among the worst of them, was temperate enough most of the time, with an average temperature of 80F/26C and not too much humidity. Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino, admitted to reporters in the lead-up to the final that heat was an issue at this tournament, and that it would address it by playing games under roofed stadiums at next year's World Cup. He seemed to be suggesting that more daytime games would be played at one of the indoor or covered stadiums, but it is not yet known how Fifa would accomplish this given that the schedule has been determined (though kick-off times have not). Advertisement Losers Most of the players involved: Fifpro, the global union for professional football players, has repeatedly pointed out that the timing of the Club World Cup could cause real harm to the players. Given the ever-increasing number of games in a grueling club season, the tournament always had the potential for unnecessary injuries – never more true than in the case of Bayern's Jamal Musiala, who sustained a broken and dislocated ankle in a collision with PSG's goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma that will keep him out for most of the next year. 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Associated Press An expanded Club World Cup marked by empty seats, slashed ticket prices, searing heat, weather-delayed matches and a criticized field surface ended in a surprise victory by Chelsea, the fourth-best team in the Premier League. Among the lasting lessons was FIFA's decision to dramatically drop ticket costs as some kickoff times approached, which could impact decisions by fans thinking of attending next year's World Cup. FIFA lowered the cost to attend the Chelsea-Fluminense semifinal at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to $13.40 from $473.90, then dropped the Chelsea-Paris Saint-Germain final from $330 to $199.60. There will be 104 matches at next year's expanded 48-nation World Cup and many are likely to be on weekday afternoons. FIFA has not said whether it will use dynamic pricing and refused to comment on discounting. The 63 matches drew 2.49 million, about 62% of the listed capacity. FIFA refused to disclose tournament capacities of venues, focusing on tickets sold rather than about 1.5 million unfilled seats, and would not address price cuts. FIFA president Gianni Infantino assessed the expanded tournament he championed, saying: "it is already most successful club competition in the world.' Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp was less enthusiastic, telling the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag it was 'the worst idea ever implemented in football" because of demands on players as a result of the extended season. PSG played its 65th competitive match and Chelsea its 64th since starting in mid-August. Each team will have 33-35 days off before 2025-26 openers. 'I told my players that I had the feeling that this competition will become just as important or even more important than the Champions League,' Chelsea manager Enzo Maresco said. Maresca called the heat dangerous. Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovač said the grass at MetLife Stadium, site of next year's World Cup final, was so short "it's more a golf green, so you can putt here.' Tiny U.S. television audience The streaming service DAZN bought world rights and sublicensed 24 of the 63 matches to TNT Sports, which averaged 418,000 viewers for the first 23 matches with English-language commentary on TNT, TBS and truTV. Seventeen matches sublicensed to TelevisaUnivision with Spanish commentary averaged 551,000. By comparison, NBC's networks averaged 510,000 viewers per match window for the Premier League in 2024-25, regular-season Major League Baseball is averaging 1,841,000 this year on Fox and 1.74 million on the cable network ESPN. The NFL averaged 17.5 million during the 2024 regular season. DAZN has not yet released figures but says it will during the week. Hot seat Temperature was over 90 degrees (32 Celsius) for many matches, with humidity that made it feel more than 100 (38). 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Missing champions While FIFA hyped the tournament as a competition of the best teams in the world, it didn't include the current champions of England (Liverpool), Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Napoli), Portugal (Sporting Lisbon) and Austria (Sturm Graz) among the dozen European clubs in the 32-nation field. Lionel Messi's Inter Miami got an invite even though it has never won the MLS title. Player welfare For the top players, the Club World Cup meant they likely faced three consecutive years of summer tournaments, following the European Championship and Copa America last year and leading to the World Cup for national teams in 2026. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said impact of the new tournament might not be known until midway through next season. 'I may say: 'So listen, we are a disaster. We are exhausted. The World Cup destroyed us,'' he admitted. 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New Zealand's Auckland City lost 10-0 to Bayern, while a game between South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korea's Ulsan drew just 3,412 fans. A question of quality Messi produced moments of magic, but a bout of acute gastroenteritis limited Kylian Mbappe's involvement. While many matches in the group stage, in particular, were competitive, only a few games will be remembered for iconic moments. ___ AP soccer: recommended Item 1 of 3
