For Chelsea, victory in Sunday's Club World Cup decider completed a fine first season under Enzo Maresca, and also finally brought the curtain down on a marathon campaign that it must hope does not catch up with it down the line.
The Cole Palmer-inspired 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium outside New York was Chelsea's 64th game of a season that lasted 11 months.
By any measure it was one of Chelsea's best ever campaigns, with its Club World Cup triumph — placed on a par by Maresca to winning the Champions League — following victory in the UEFA Conference League and a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League.
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