Chelsea’s Club World Cup win is complicated

Chelsea secured a Club World Cup win on Saturday in Abu Dhabi against Brazilian club Palmeiras was hard to ignore.

Every social media platform was filled with images and videos of Chelsea players and staff emphatically celebrating their 21st trophy since Roman Abramovich took ownership of the club, while Chelsea’s social media team were very quick in changing the bios for all the club’s accounts to “Champions of the World”.

To non-Chelsea fans, it was all probably a bit over-the-top. Especially for a tournament that doesn’t seem as illustrious as a few others that shall remain nameless but mostly everyone can guess.

Craig Burley only added fuel to that notion when he very candidly spoke out about Chelsea’s celebrations, going as far to call the Club World Cup trophy “plastic”.

This, as expected, enraged Chelsea fans who were quick to respond to Burley’s comments with the argument that in order for a club to even get to play for the Club World Cup and be called Champions of the World, they have to first become Champions of Europe. Which, of course, we all know they did last May by defeating Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League final 0-1.

That is a fair point to make, and quite honestly, no one with a sensible head should be questioning Chelsea’s deservance of this trophy or any of their most recent accomplishments.

The Blues have now literally won every major trophy that could ever be won and the only other clubs in the world who can say the same are Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Ajax.

That does not happen without some serious dedication, year after year, from both players and coaching staff, and especially not without the assistance of an owner who has deep ambitions and even deeper pockets.

But what should still be questioned about Chelsea is this: what exactly happens next?

After the fanfare and confetti settle and Chelsea returns to England, where they have surprisingly shown plenty of signs of struggling this season, how do they respond?

Not a single Chelsea fan is currently thinking “I’m fine now if the next few seasons are rough” or “I’m fine if we don’t win anything for a while now.” No. That is not a thing.

After a club achieves the status of “world domination”, the bar is only set higher and the expectations are multiplied. The hunger and the desire to win even more are only increased.

Winning the Club World Cup just made the rest of the road for Chelsea from here on out a lot more difficult.

Fans may claim Manchester City are the club under the most pressure at the moment since Pep and co. have yet to get their hands on European glory after spending over £1 billion pounds in transfers and signings.

Thomas Tuchel and his Chelsea side should be under the microscope

However, since their bar of past achievements is not as high as Chelsea’s, the London club should be the ones put under the microscope, not City. And even if City are under great pressure, they certainly are not the ones showing it.

Sitting in first place in the PL with sixteen points over third-place Chelsea is almost laughable. And their Tuesday night victory in the UCL’s first leg in the Round of 16, where they humiliated Sporting Lisbon 0-5, only cemented their composure and potency on the field.

Can the same currently be said for Chelsea?

A win is a win, yes, but even their Club World Cup victory was a little hard to watch at times. The Blues’ lack of consistency, creativity, and a threatening attack may come back to haunt them in the competitions that matter a bit more back home.

What goes up must always come down, as is the case with every team who accomplishes great things. But what will that “down” exactly look like for the West London club, and are we perhaps already catching glimpses of it?

Technically, Chelsea are still in contention for three remaining cups (UCL, EFL, and FA Cup) and could very well improve their form. But perhaps they were relishing their Club World Cup win because there is already an awareness from within that future celebrations may not be so certain for them?