Tottenham Hotspur will be hoping to reproduce what Chelsea did on Sunday when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup final next month but what happens with that hair-pulling red card for Joao Neves?
The Blues shocked the French side in the FIFA Club World Cup final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey by racing into a 3-0 lead in the first half on Sunday, with two goals from Cole Palmer and another from Joao Pedro. Luis Enrique's Champions League winners could not find a way back into the game in the USA. That task had become all the more difficult towards the end of the game when Neves got himself sent off.
After being barged into by Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella during a moment off the ball, the 20-year-old Portuguese midfielder responded by yanking the long hair of the Spaniard, who immediately fell to the floor. The Video Assistant Referee advised referee Alireza Faghani to check his pitch-side monitor and the official took little time in sending Neves off after he was deemed to have committed violent conduct.
Tensions had already been rising among the frustrated PSG players with some late lunges and Neves had previously tried to lift Cucurella off the floor following one challenge after feeling the Chelsea man was time-wasting.
After the game there were further clashes between players and PSG boss Enrique appeared to catch new Chelsea signing Joao Pedro in the face at one point.
"At the end of the match, there is a lot of tension. There was a situation that I believe could have been avoided by everyone. I think that is logical," said Enrique afterwards. "I am going to prevent my players from going any further in that brawl and from then on there is pushing and shoving by everyone.
"I think and I repeat, that is not the best thing to do. It’s the result of the tension, the result of the situation of the match and I have nothing more to add."
Unfortunately for Tottenham it appears that any disciplinary issues certainly for Neves arising from the game in New Jersey are unlikely to have a knock-on effect for the match in Udine next month on August 13.
football.london spoke to UEFA about the red card for Neves, who played almost every minute as PSG won the Champion League last season, and any potential disciplinary action for Enrique and was told that as it was a FIFA tournament then nothing will spill automatically into a UEFA competition. The only way it would was if FIFA made any ban a worldwide one which would seem unlikely at this stage for Neves at least.
Instead Tottenham will have to focus on finding a similarly successful formula to Chelsea's to get past PSG. The French side will now need at least three weeks off by FIFA regulations so Spurs will be hoping that the opponents in Thomas Frank's first competitive game will be a little lacking sharpness as they will only return to pre-season training in the days ahead of the Super Cup in Italy.