João Pedro had been a Chelsea player for less than two weeks when he faced Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Club World Cup last summer. The settling-in period was intense. The forward had an impactful substitute appearance when he made his debut in the quarter-final win over Palmeiras, struck a clinical double when Fluminense were downed in the semi-finals, and then, on a thrilling, sweaty afternoon in New Jersey, delivered the coup de grace when Chelsea became world champions thanks to a stunning demolition of PSG.
It was 3-0 when João Pedro lifted a clever finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43rd minute, and the manner of the humiliation was hard for PSG to accept. Heads were scrambled as the newly crowned European champions felt their aura of invincibility ebb away at the end of an epic season. João Neves was shown a red card for a tangle with Marc Cucurella – who else? – and the loss of discipline even involved Luis Enrique, the PSG manager, appearing to slap João Pedro in the face when a mass brawl broke out at full-time.
No doubt there will be scores to settle in round two when the sides meet in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night. For PSG, it is a chance to show that losing to Chelsea was a one-off at the end of a draining, trophy-laden campaign. Motivation is unlikely to be an issue, even if Luis Enrique insists that revenge is not on the agenda. Do not expect a warm reaction from the locals if Chelsea does another of those pre-match halfway-line huddles. Chelsea, with nine red cards this season, will need cool heads if they are to head back to London with hope before next week’s second leg.
It is tough to call. PSG have underwhelmed this season – they are top of Ligue 1 by a point after losing 3-1 to Monaco last Friday, were plunged into a playoff after finishing 11th in the Champions League mega-table, and have looked weary since the Club World Cup. Injuries have taken a toll, and new signings have not worked out. There have been flashes of infighting, and the jury remains out on the decision to sell Donnarumma to Manchester City and replace the Italian goalkeeper with Lucas Chevalier.
Yet PSG remains formidable opposition. Fabián Ruiz has a knee injury, but Vitinha is exceptional in midfield, and there is hope that Neves will return from a sore ankle. In attack, Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola, and Désiré Doué will be looking to right some wrongs against a Chelsea defence yet to keep a clean sheet in an away game in Europe this season.
Chelsea, for their part, have seen that they can punish PSG. The gameplan was superbly executed in the Club World Cup final. The midfield pressed high, Robert Sánchez delivered long diagonals over the PSG left-back, Nuno Mendes, and the setup ensured there was space for Cole Palmer to decide the game with a virtuoso display.
The big change since then has come in the dugout, where Liam Rosenior has replaced Enzo Maresca as Chelsea’s head coach. There have been subtle positional tweaks under Rosenior. Like Maresca, though, he has placed a heavy emphasis on building his attack around Palmer and João Pedro.
Palmer remains the star despite a season disrupted by a nagging groin injury. Anything is possible if the No 10 is fit and firing. He announced himself on the world stage in the final against PSG, scoring two brilliant goals, and quickly developed a strong relationship with João Pedro on and off the pitch. It was Palmer who created João Pedro’s goal against PSG. Chelsea is better when the pair connect. They have linked well under Rosenior, with Palmer setting up goals for João Pedro against Napoli and Leeds.
Yet Palmer is still not at 100%. Four of his past six goals have been penalties and his sharpness is yet to return. João Pedro has been Chelsea’s most effective forward since the turn of the year. The Brazilian has honed his game since Rosenior’s appointment. It is worth remembering that the initial idea with João Pedro was that he would provide Chelsea with another creative option after joining from Brighton. But he is emerging as an elite finisher under Rosenior, who reacted to João Pedro’s hat-trick in last week’s win over Aston Villa by saying the 24-year-old is in the same category as Harry Kane and Erling Haaland when it comes to assessing No 9s.
“I think my form is largely down to the conversations I’ve had with Liam,” João Pedro said this week. The improvement has been immense. João Pedro, who hopes to be Brazil’s starting striker at the World Cup, was not out of favour under Maresca, but his game has changed. He had seven goals in 24 games before the Italian left on New Year’s Day. There were times when João Pedro barely touched the ball and dropped too deep. Under Rosenior, he is having more touches in the final third, is spending more time in the penalty area and has scored 11 goals in 13 appearances.
PSG will not underestimate the threat. Another cutting performance from João Pedro and there will be talk that Chelsea have finally found a striker capable of emulating Didier Drogba and Diego Costa. A lot rests on whether support flows from Palmer, though. Rosenior has got João Pedro going. Yet Chelsea’s hopes of landing another knockout blow on PSG are likely to depend on Palmer hitting top speed after the toughest period of his career.
