Chelsea beats PSG 3-0 for Club World Cup title as Palmer scores twice and sets up third goal

EAST RUTHERFORD, N,J. (AP) — Cole Palmer scored twice and fed João Pedro for a goal as Chelsea overwhelmed Paris Saint-Germain in the first half and beat the European champions 3-0 on Sunday in the final of the first expanded Club World Cup.

Palmer had almost identical left-footed goals from just inside the penalty area in the 22nd and 30th minutes, then sent a through pass that enabled João Pedro to chip goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43d for his third goal in two starts with the Blues.

A 23-year-old who joined Chelsea from Manchester City two years ago, Palmer scored 18 goals this season.

PSG finished a man short after João Neves was given a red card in the 84th minute for pulling down Marc Cucurella by his hair. After a testy final few minutes in a game with six yellow cards, the teams needed to be separated as PSG coach Luis Enrique and Donnarumma pushed João Pedro near the center circle.

A heavy favorite who had outscored opponents 16-1, PSG had been looking to complete a quadruple after winning Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and its first Champions League title.

Before a tournament-high crowd of 81,188 at MetLife Stadium that included U.S. President Donald Trump, Chelsea showed the energy of a fourth day of rest after its semifinal, one more than PSG. Trump was booed when he walked on the field for the postgame awards, then posed with Chelsea players after he and FIFA president Gianni Infantino handed the trophy to captain Reece James.

Chelsea had finished fourth in the Premier League and won the third-tier UEFA Conference League. The Blues took the world title for the second time after 2021, when it was an seven-team event. The Blues earned $128,435,000 to $153,815,000 in prize money, the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.

PSG had not lost by three goals since a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Newcastle in October 2023.

Chelsea went ahead in the 22nd after goalkeeper Robert Sánchez kicked the ball downfield and Nuno Mendes mis-hit his header 15 yards past the midfield stripe toward his own goal. Malo Gusto’s shot was blocked by Lucas Beraldo and rebounded to Palmer, who ended PSG’s streak of 436 minutes without conceding.

Palmer doubled the lead in the 30th when he ran onto a long ball from Levi Colwill, cut inside before shooting.

Chelsea heads into the 2025-26 season, which starts in less than five weeks, believing it can challenge Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.

“It’s a great feeling. Even better because obviously everyone doubted us before the game. ... The gaffer put a great gameplan out and obviously, he knew where the space was going to be." — Palmer

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Chelsea's Reece James (24) lifts the trophy as President Donald Trump looks on following the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Referee Alireza Faghani shows the yellow card to Chelsea's Levi Colwill during the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Chelsea players celebrate after winning the Club World Cup final soccer match against Paris Saint-Germain in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea players scuffle after the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Chelsea's Cole Palmer reacts after scoring a goal against Paris Saint-Germain during the first half of the Club World Cup final soccer match in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Chelsea's players celebrate after winning the Club World Cup final soccer match against PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

JDEIDEH, Lebanon (AP) — It was not how the Rev. Maroun Ghafari had envisioned this Holy Week — for years, he had held Easter sermons in his predominantly Christian village of Alma al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel.

This year, he is preaching from a Beirut suburb, beside a cardboard cutout depicting his church in Alma al-Shaab, now caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Since hostilities erupted last month between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group — in the shadow of the wider, U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — over 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon, and more than 1 million have been forced to flee their homes.

Among those displaced from the war-torn south are thousands of Christians. They now find themselves far from their ancestral churches in Lebanon, where Christians have maintained a strong presence through centuries of Byzantine, Arab and Ottoman conquest and plenty of modern-day crises.

Christians are estimated to make up around a third of Lebanon's population of roughly 5.5 million people. With 12 Christian sects, the country is home to the largest proportion of Christians of any nation in the Arab world.

Christian villagers who stayed behind in southern Lebanon, ignoring Israel’s blanket evacuation warnings for the area, have increasingly hardened into enclaves surrounded by fierce clashes.

And though villagers in Alma al-Shaab had been uprooted before, in the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war, this time around, they were adamant they wouldn't leave, even as airstrikes came closer and closer.

The villagers huddled in their church for protection as Israeli warplanes pounded large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon while Israeli troops stepped up a ground invasion and Hezbollah kept firing rockets at Israel.

In his annual Easter homily, Patriarch Beshara al-Rai of Lebanon’s Maronite Church blamed both Hezbollah and Israel for the suffering wrought by the war.

“The country is going through a critical situation due to Iranian interference through Hezbollah and Israeli aggression,” he said. “Our hearts bleed for the victims of the conflict imposed on Lebanon.”

Ghafari’s brother, 70-year-old Sami Ghafari, was among the villagers who sought refuge at the church in Alma al-Shaab.

But he dashed out briefly on March 8 to tend to his garden, and was killed by an Israeli drone strike. His killing prompted the remaining villagers — including his brother — to pack up their belongings.

The U.N. peacekeepers in the area — a force known as UNIFIL that has monitored the region for nearly five decades — evacuated them to the northern suburbs of Beirut.

“We wanted to stay, but it was always possible that one of us could be targeted or killed at any moment,” the Rev. Maroun Ghafari told The Associated Press from St. Anthony Church in the northern Beirut suburb of Jdeideh, where the displaced from Alma al-Shaab came to worship on Saturday.

“Everyone is tired, and we see that war brings nothing but destruction, death and displacement.”

For many Lebanese Christians, it's a tradition on Holy Saturday — the day between Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and Easter Sunday, which marks his resurrection according to the Gospels — to visit the graves of their loved ones.

This year, displaced Christians could only reflect from afar.

Nabila Farah, dressed in black for the Saturday service at St. Anthony Church, was among the last to leave Alma al-Shaab. She still feels heartbroken, a month later.

“You miss the smell of home, the lovely traditions and customs, the sounds of the bells of three churches ringing,” she said, reminiscing about her village. “As much as we experience the Easter atmosphere here, it will never be as it is over there.”

Those who remain face other challenges.

Marius Khairallah, a priest in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, where much of the Christian community has hunkered down, says that he and his congregants are staying put "not out of stubbornness, but out of a sense of mission, to remain alongside their fellow faithful, as witnesses.”

“A significant number of parishioners have been displaced or are absent,” he said. "Yet churches still open their doors. Prayers are still raised — even with fewer voices."

Worries are mounting among Christians in the area as the Lebanese army — which seeks to stay neutral in the Israel-Hezbollah war — pulls out from parts of southern Lebanon, leaving them exposed to Israeli forces pushing deeper into the territory.

St. Antony's main priest, the Rev. Dori Fayyad, used his Good Friday sermon to take solemn note of the war’s widening toll on the southern Lebanese Christians, as the faithful recited prayers in Arabic and Syriac, a dialect of the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus.

“Today, you understand what the cross means, not as an idea, not as a concept, but because you are going through it,” he told the fully packed pews, the crowd so thick that dozens had to stand or crouch on the back stairs.

Some wiped away tears as Fayyad named one by one the southern churches, illustrated in the cardboard cutouts next to the pulpit.

“These churches in these villages are not only places of worship,” he said. “They are silent witnesses to suffering and to faith.”

Associated Press video journalist Ali Sharafeddine in Jdeideh, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

A girl kisses a cross held by a priest during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Parishioners walk in a procession after a Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers pray during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers pray during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Worshipers pray during Good Friday Mass at St. Anthony Church, which was devoted to expressing solidarity with Christian villagers in southern Lebanon displaced by the war in Jdeideh, a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)