Sanchez was outstanding in Sunday’s final, saving arguably his best display in a Chelsea shirt for the biggest occasion. But to focus only on that performance would be to ignore a strong showing from the 27-year-old throughout the tournament.

In our opening fixture against LAFC, Sanchez made a big save with an outstretched right leg to deny Denis Bouanga when our lead stood at just 1-0. It was one of four saves he made in Atlanta that day.

Although eventually beaten by three close-range Flamengo efforts, Sanchez had already made six saves against the Brazilians before their equaliser, including a superb reflex stop to keep out Gonzalo Plata’s fierce effort from 12 yards.

Filip Jorgensen donned the gloves for our final group fixture and had little to do as we eased past ES Tunis. Sanchez returned for the round of 16 tie with Benfica and was beaten only by a controversial penalty before our ultimate extra-time success.

In the quarters, a stunning strike from future Blue Estevao Willian would arguably not have been saved by any goalkeeper in the world.

Chelsea’s impressive defensive display against Fluminense meant Sanchez was not overly troubled in the final four, with a low second-half save from Everaldo the pick of the three he made at the MetLife Stadium on his way to a second clean sheet of the tournament.

A third arrived in the global showpiece on Sunday, and he most definitely earned this one. Sanchez made six saves. Some were fantastic. A strong hand low to his left to stop Desire Doue’s shot arrived just a few minutes before a superb Sanchez pass released Malo Gusto in the build-up to Cole Palmer’s opener.

Early in the second half, Ousmane Dembele must have thought he had scored until Sanchez leaped to his right to claw the striker’s close-range shot away. It was his best save on the day, and probably his best of the tournament. It also denied PSG any hope of mounting an unlikely comeback.

By full-time, the stats showed Sanchez had recorded the best save percentage of any goalkeeper at the Club World Cup – 81.5 per cent. He had kept out 22 of the 27 on-target shots he faced.

Not only that, the Spain international prevented the most goals of any keeper according to Opta data. The xG of the 27 shots he faced amounted to 9.2, yet he only let in five - a significant differential of 4.2.

Allied to his work keeping the ball out of his goal, Sanchez also demonstrated the quality of his distribution, most notably in the final when a series of longer passes – either kicked from the ground or out of his hands - found a team-mate to start attacks.

The graphic below shows the six long passes he played towards Malo Gusto and Cole Palmer in the first half. It was a source of real joy for the Blues.

In total, Sanchez was involved in the build-up of three of our goals at the tournament, and he played the third-most passes of any keeper, too.

With the ball at his feet, or trying to stop it entering his goal, Sanchez starred stateside, bringing the curtain down on his second season at Stamford Bridge in the best fashion possible.

Club World Cup 2025 save percentage

Club World Cup 2025 goals prevented