Cole Palmer: Chelsea star hits back at critics after Blues win Club World Cup final – ‘Everyone has talked a lot of s*** about us’

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Cole Palmer was delighted with a 3-0 victory over 10-man Paris Saint-Germain, with his two first-half goals crucial to securing another trophy for The Blues under Enzo Maresca. Both Palmer and his manager had come in for criticism over the course of the season, but the England midfielder was hugely impressive on Sunday, and was pleased to find a tactical system that worked for him.

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Chelsea star Cole Palmer celebrated the Club World Cup final win over Paris Saint-Germain after "everybody doubted us."

Palmer was at the heart of Chelsea’s victory, scoring twice in a comprehensive 3-0 victory over PSG that saw The Blues begin as underdogs but end as worthy winners.

The UEFA Champions League winners had little room for complaint, with Joao Neves dismissed towards the end of the match for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.

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England midfielder Palmer had come in for criticism last season as his form failed to match the heights of his previous campaign, and coach Enzo Maresca also had to deal with suggestions that his tactics were not producing sufficiently entertaining football.

Despite that, Chelsea won the UEFA Conference League and also qualified for the Champions League, and have now become the first Club World Cup champions of the new format.

Speaking to DAZN, Palmer was delighted, saying: "It's a great feeling. Even better, because everyone doubted us before the game, we knew that. To put a fight on like we did, it's good."

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Reflecting on another strong performance in a final, he added: "I like finals. It's happened again.

"The gaffer put a great gameplan out. He knew where the space was going to be. He tried to free me up as much as possible, and I just had to repay him and score some goals."

Palmer then turned the air blue when talking about his manager, continuing: "He is building something special, something important. Everyone has talked a lot of s*** about us all season, but I feel like we are going in the right direction."

'We won the game in the first 10 minutes' - Maresca

Maresca discussed the match and said that he thought that the early stages were crucial, even before Palmer scored in the 22nd and 30th minutes, and long before Joao Pedro’s goal just before half-time.

He explained: "For me, we won the game in the first 10 minutes. We set the tempo, and we were very good at pressing them. The conditions made it hard to keep going, but the boys did well."

There have been suggestions that Maresca had not found the right role to get the best out of Palmer over the course of last season, but the Italian seemed content with how the system had worked on Sunday.

He added: "Today we found a position for him where there was more space to attack. Obviously, Cole played really well but the effort from all the players was fantastic.

"Of course, I am very excited [about the future] but I'm more excited that we have three weeks off."

Maresca added in his post-match press conference that Chelsea's had beaten "the best team in the world" and that winning the Club World Cup was a "top achievement".

"The Club World Cup champion is something that we are proud (of)," Maresca said via AP. "[We're] very happy, especially against PSG that as I said two days ago in the press conference, I consider them to be the best team in the world with one of the best managers in the world. Fantastic player. So, today has been a top, top achievement."

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