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Chelsea vs PSG | CWC Final Preview
Chelsea and Maresca face their most daunting challenge yet against a side and a manager who they'd love to emulate.
Sam GR
July 12, 2025
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It's the threat of not just the way of doing business, but in their minds it's threatening the game. But really what it's threatening is their livelihoods, it's threatening their jobs, it's threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it's the government or a way of doing business or whatever it is, the people are holding the reins, have their hands on the switch. They go bat shit crazy. I mean, anybody who's not building a team right and rebuilding it using your model, they're dinosaurs.
What are they even doing?
It’s a question the hierarchies at PSG and at Chelsea must be intimately familiar with. PSG are here after offloading the best footballer the world has ever seen, and his long-standing partner-in-crime, Brazil’s radiant boy-wonder. Then they lost Paris’ prodigal son, one who almost single-handedly turned the course of a war in the last World Cup final. Not many expected PSG to lose an attacking unit with nearly 300 league goals amongst them since 2017, and somehow become stronger.
Cultural Upheaval
I read that you liked Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan would grab his team-mates by the balls and defend like a madman. You have to set that example first as a person and as a player. You're a phenomenon, a world-class player. Not a doubt. But that's not enough for me. Attacking, I already know you are a god. Attacking, there is no one like you, I already know. But the day you attack [and] you have to be the best player in history defending — that's a leader. That's Michael Jordan.
Luis Enrique played for La Furia Roja and he managed them too. He is La Furia Roja. His message to Mbappe was delivered not in whispers of reverence but with fervour bordering on fanaticism. The need for speed, intensity, industry was delivered, quite naturally, with those very same qualities. The former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Spain international is 55, and at the start of his 50s could outrun almost every player he coached. Hailing from Gijon in Asturias, a region pockmarked with mountains, Enrique cultivated long-term endurance in a sport built for short, explosive bursts. In 2008, he competed in the (in)famous Marathon de Sables, a brutal 155 km race over 6 days in the Sahara desert. He has also completed the Frankfurt Ironman Challenge - a 3.8 km run, followed by a 189 km bike race, ending with a 42.2 km full marathon.
Enrique has endured infinitely harder challenges and emerged stronger - when he was manager of Spain, he lost his 9-year-old daughter, Xana, to bone cancer. Transmuting suffering into purpose is a central theme in Enrique’s life; it is the guiding principle that shapes the way he wants his teams to think too.
Enrique did not inherit a PSG side built in his image. It had to be gutted, the wounds cauterized even if healthy skin was singed as result. Neymar and Messi were both replaced with younger, more malleable talent - Desire Doue, Kang-in Lee, Bradley Barcola, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia - all four signed for €202m, €20m less than it took to sign Neymar alone. Randal Kolo Muani, bought for €95m, Manuel Ugarte for €60m, were swiftly jettisoned for massive hits. The big transfer fees, quick loan/sell policy is not unfamiliar in West London. After a first season with its uncertainty, the second has yielded spectacularly.
The league season was a procession; the Champions League final was annihilation. The Iberian core of Neves, Ruiz and Vitinha have incredible synergy and technical fundamentals. Only Joshua Kimmich managed more touches per 90 minutes than Vitinha’s 113.7. No team in the top 5 leagues has as many players as PSG completing 90+ passes per 90 minutes. Only two teams in the top 5 leagues have a higher field-tilt - possession control in the opposition’s def 3rd than PSG.
Up front, it is a rare, eclectic mix of forwards with searing venom and intelligent movement that disorients both in transition and (un)settled possession. Mbappe’s throne has been taken by Ousmane Dembele, who could well be crowned this year’s Ballon d’Or winner. A goal or assist against Chelsea would take his G/A tally to 50. A second would take him to 51, three times as many the 2nd best G/A in his senior career. And Dembele is everything Enrique demanded Mbappe be - a leader in the press, a galvanizing force, the lever that sparks his machine to life. Make no mistake about it - Chelsea are going to face their sternest test in years, one where elation, devastation and everything in between will have ample to teach.
Two of a Kind
There are remarkable similarities in how PSG & Chelsea have gone about their business in becoming the youngest and 2nd youngest sides in the Club World Cup. Chelsea held talks with Enrique before moving to appoint Pochettino, and the Spaniard took charge at PSG. Both are now led by former midfielders who scored for Spanish clubs in a UEFA Super Cup final. Both have clashed heads over multiple transfer targets - Manuel Ugarte, Achraf Hakimi, Gabriel Moscardo and Bradley Barcola were all linked heavily with or close to joining the Blues but eventually chose PSG. The Parisians were closely monitoring Enzo Fernandez at Benfica and the World Cup but Chelsea won a frantic race for the World Cup winner. PSG moved for the player Benfica promoted in Neves. Both have realized the folly of shelling out for shiny centerforwards and are instead relying on forward lines with versatile elements. Enrique gave minutes to 8 teenagers in all competitions last season; Maresca played 11. There’s a conscious, gradual move away from offering Galactico wages to new signings, focusing instead of building a younger, dynamic core that thrives in a culture aimed at mobilizing the collective.
Litmus Test
Reporter: Given how PSG have played in the last six months, and the performance that they put in against Real Madrid on Wednesday, how important is it that your players are willing to suffer on Sunday?
Maresca: Who said that?
This Enzo Maresca was a far cry from the one that insisted that top 4 wasn’t an aim last season. The UECL title has been transformative, on and off the field. At the CWC Maresca hasn’t just stuck to his ideas from Leicester, he is finally empowering his players to build upon them.
Luis Enrique himself was effusive in his praise for the Chelsea manager. “Maresca is a coach I love,” he told The Guardian. “I love the way he has of playing with the ball. They have a lot of good individual players but they also have a real sense of duty. They are a bit like our team. They are physically strong too. It will be a very even game and a very difficult one.”
This game will be a seminal moment for Maresca and his side, one way or another. PSG are fresh off scoring five against Inter Milan in a CL final, belting four against both Madrid sides, and scoring two against Bayern - the second of them with nine men. This game, contrary to Enrique’s generous praise, will be anything but even. But Chelsea have been here before, many times. Less heralded at the start of the game, under siege in the middle, triumphant at the end. This is Maresca & Chelsea meeting the side they’d very much like to be. A win may be too much to ask, but a valiant effort will be enough to prove that Chelsea are inching closer to realizing their blueprint.