Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique regrets the heated altercation with the Chelsea squad after the lost final at the Club World Cup in New York. The Spaniard, who himself delivered a blow, had hoped for a friendlier conclusion.
PSG lost 3-0 to Chelsea with goals from Cole Palmer (twice) and João Pedro in the first half. The final was already intense. For example, João Neves received a red card shortly before time after pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
After the heated match, players and staff from both teams confronted each other. Enrique touched João Pedro’s throat and face with his hand, after which the Brazilian attacker fell to the ground. Enrique also had a heated discussion with Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
“We should have prevented this,” Enrique said at the press conference. “I wanted to separate the players to prevent escalation. A lot of tension was released. Many people were pushing and pulling.”
“We all have a share in this. This must not happen again. I emphasize that my only intention was to defuse the situation,” said Enrique, who was proud of his team’s performance at the World Cup. “We are not losers, we are runner-up. There are no losers in top football.”
João Pedro: ‘They are sore losers’
João Pedro was not happy with PSG’s behavior. “They all went to Andrey Santos, so I wanted to protect my compatriot and friend. They are sore losers, but sometimes you have that in football.”
Santos was unaware of any wrongdoing. “I had no idea they would come at me so aggressively. But I bow to no one. And João Pedro and the others were there quickly. The most important thing now is that we are world champions.”
Match winner Palmer was delighted with the world title. “This is a fantastic feeling. The outside world had many doubts about our qualities. But we have shown that we are getting stronger and do not shy away from great challenges.”
Palmer was very satisfied with his own performance during the World Cup. “And I love finals, so I’m glad I played well now too. And we are getting stronger. The trainer is building something special.”