Revealed: Luis Enrique’s shock escape for his Joao Pedro face grab ahead of fiery Champions League reunion, crunch time for Reece James contract talks and the true cost of red cards – CHELSEA CONFIDENTIAL

Luis Enrique got away with striking Joao Pedro in the face after the Club World Cup final as FIFA never took any action against the Paris Saint-Germain manager, Confidential can finally confirm.

Chelsea and PSG are set to clash again in the Champions League last 16 next week, eight months on from their summer showdown at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Managed by Enzo Maresca at the time, that 3-0 triumph was followed by angry scenes at full time, with Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos initially involved in a confrontation with Gianluigi Donnarumma and Achraf Hakimi. Rather than defuse the situation, Luis Enrique fuelled the fire by raking his fingers down the face of Chelsea’s forward, who reacted by falling to the floor.

FIFA have never commented on the incident – and they are still not issuing a statement on it now – but sources there have revealed no retrospective action was ever taken against Enrique and PSG after they lost out on being crowned world champions.

While a disciplinary charge was debated, it would appear the bust-up was swept under the carpet, but we are bound to see the video clip circulating on social media over the coming week.

That comes with Chelsea preparing to take on PSG again in the Champions League. The first leg at the Parc des Princes is set for Wednesday March 11, and the second leg at Stamford Bridge for Tuesday March 17, with the Blues aiming to inflict more misery on the Parisians.

The PSG boss has escaped punishment, it can finally be revealed – and will now face Chelsea next week in the Champions League last 16 first leg

After that Club World Cup final, Enrique tried to claim he was simply trying to ‘separate the footballers’. The 55-year-old Spaniard speaks good English, and so we may get to quiz him on his beef with Joao Pedro at his press conference in Paris next week.

Luis Enrique has long been linked with a move to the Premier League, and it is believed he would be open to such a switch once his time with PSG is through.

Another name on the (James) Cup!  

Following on from the inaugural 2025 Reece James Cup held at Cobham last year, Chelsea have expanded the tournament from four boys’ teams to eight and also introduced four girls’ teams, renaming it the Reece and Lauren James Cup for 2026.

It will be held at Cobham over the weekend of March 14 and 15, and Confidential can reveal the participating clubs will include: Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Feyenoord, Dinamo Zagreb, Rangers, Celtic, Club Bruges, Right to Dream and Shamrock Rovers.

It is an admirable and unique tournament bringing together a collection of the best academies in Europe to engage in high-level competition, with the boys and girls who feature aiming to follow in the footsteps of Reece and his sister Lauren. 

Some of the youngsters involved in last year’s edition have since gone on to feature for Chelsea at Under-18 and Under-21 level, as well as train with the Blues’ first team, such as Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, Reggie Watson and Heze Grimwade.

Reece and Lauren created the tournament alongside Chelsea as part of their commitment to supporting and developing youth football. The boys will be Under 16s or 2010-born, while the girls will be Under 14s or 2012-born, and some matches are set to be live streamed via the Veo YouTube channel.

Former Chelsea schoolboy players Tom Howard and Sam Hurrell will take charge of the Blues’ Under 16s side for the weekend of action at Cobham, which has secured sponsors including Nando’s, Cadbury and clothing brand Unknown.

Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli (right) played in the Reece James Cup last year and has since gone on to train with the first team

Crunch time for Reece’s contract 

We are approaching an interesting time in Reece James’ contract because Chelsea do not want players getting into the last two years of their deals, let alone the last 12 months.

That partially stems from the headaches the current hierarchy inherited when they took over the club, with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leaving for nothing in the summer of 2022 – weeks after the takeover.

It stung Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly to lose two stars who had featured in the Champions League final under Thomas Tuchel, as Rudiger joined Real Madrid and Christensen moved to Barcelona.

With James, his contract will only have two years remaining on it as of this summer. Chelsea are relatively relaxed with his situation as we are told they do not intend on losing any of their key players and they see their captain as committed to both the club and the project. Marc Cucurella’s contract will also be two years from expiring at the end of this season.

Meanwhile, it is no secret that Chelsea players have bonuses built into their contracts, one of which is to do with participation in the Champions League.

UEFA last week released their financial figures – without providing clubs such as Chelsea with any prior warning, by the way – and it showed how the Blues recorded the highest pre-tax losses in English football history in the 2024-25 season.

While Chelsea are still confident they can finish in the Premier League’s top five, the Champions League-related bonuses built into their stars’ contracts would help cover the cost of failing to qualify to an extent.

Marc Cucurella (left) and Reece James (right) will both have two years left on their Chelsea contracts this summer

Chelsea looking for new homes 

Confidential has learned Chelsea have circulated ‘we are hiring’ flyers close to their training base seeking local families who wish to provide lodging for their women’s academy youngsters.

Found in nearby coffee shops and the like, the advertisement says they require ‘a safe and warm home environment for girls aged 16-18’, a ‘dedicated bedroom for a player to stay in’, and ‘homes within a short distance to Cobham training ground’.

Competitive rates of pay, travel expenses for players, comprehensive host parent and safeguarding training and a full assessment to determine suitability will be provided.

How Reds are costing the Blues

Unlike Maresca, Liam Rosenior is not trying to hide the fact he has a disciplinary problem to solve, with Chelsea perfectly happy with their head coach taking his strong public stance.

Rosenior has gone as far as to suggest if they ended up missing out on the Champions League, then their spate of red cards would be a significant reason why.

Indeed, here is a statistic which highlights how poor their disciplinary record has been compared to their top-five rivals.

Chelsea have played 283 minutes with 10 men in the Premier League this season. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool have played 69 minutes with 10 men between them. (For the other 14 clubs, it’s a combined 706 minutes – an average of just over 50 minutes per team).

Pedro Neto’s red card at Arsenal on Sunday is their ninth this season – 10 if you include Enzo Maresca’s for his mad dash down the touchline to celebrate the winner against Liverpool

Thanks Wolves!

Here is Wolves’ record at Molineux since Chelsea won there last month: 2-2 draw with Arsenal, 2-0 win over Aston Villa, 2-1 win over Liverpool. They may be as good as down under Rob Edwards, but boy are they having their own influence at the other end of the table.

Their latest result is a gift to Chelsea’s top-five hopes before tonight’s big game with Villa.

The vibes surrounding this trip to Villa Park are similar to last season when the Blues visited Fulham. Chelsea had drawn their last two games versus Brentford and Ipswich, and could feel their Champions League chances slipping away.

Then they travelled to Craven Cottage and came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory via Tyrique George’s excellent equaliser and Neto’s even better stoppage-time winner. From there, they navigated a challenging run-in to finish fourth in the Premier League under Maresca. That is what Rosenior must also now accomplish.