Eric Trump has claimed that Chelsea invited Donald Trump on stage for their Club World Cup celebrations – and recognized it as ‘the greatest honor of their life’.
Earlier this month, the US President watched on as Chelsea secured a surprise 3-0 win against PSG, with Cole Palmer scoring a brace at the MetLife Stadium.
Afterwards, Trump was on stage – handing medals to the players – before passing over the Club World Cup trophy and remained on stage as the side lifted the title.
Many fans were left bemused by the incident and that confusion also stretched to some of the Chelsea stars – who seemed unaware that Trump would be on stage.
However, now, Trump’s second-eldest son Eric has lifted the lid on the situation and asserted that the US President was invited by the team to join the festivities.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Eric said: ‘Listen, he’s the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America.
Donald Trump took center stage as he joined Chelsea’s Club World Cup celebrations
Though some fans – and players – were confused, it’s now claimed Trump was invited on stage
Trump’s son Eric (right) claimed that Chelsea wanted Trump on stage to celebrate the moment
‘The winning team invited him to the stage because they said it would be the greatest honor of their life if the president of the United States could present the Club World Cup trophy.
‘And by the way, I was there, I was watching it. The place went crazy. And there’s no one that’s done more for sport than him’.
Despite claiming that Chelsea were aware that Trump would be on stage for the trophy lift, the bemused faces of some of their players in the moment said otherwise.
Notably, England star Cole Palmer was left bewildered by Trump’s on-stage presence and appeared to utter: ‘What’s he doing?’
The England soccer star later spoke out on his confusion, confirming the president’s celebration participation was entirely unplanned.
‘I knew he was going to be here but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy so I was a bit confused, yeah,’ he said.
Trump had earlier presented Palmer with the golden ball award with the 23-year-old midfielder looking as equally baffled during that presentation.
Meanwhile, Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella admitted he was ‘scared s***less’ by Trump when the US president joined their Club World Cup lift.
Cucurella told Spanish press: ‘We had been told that, as a rule, Donald Trump would come to present us with the trophy and that we couldn’t lift it until he left.
‘And of course, we were all there waiting for him to leave, but the guy didn’t want to leave, and on top of that, we looked at him and he said, ‘Get him up, I’ll stay here, and so on.’
‘And I wondered who would say anything to him, you know… I was scared s***less!’
Trump and wife Melania had touched down around 35 minutes before kickoff at the MetLife Stadium at the nearby Teterboro Airport on the presidential Marine One helicopter.
After being spotted touching down near MetLife, Trump surfaced inside the stadium loud cheers could be heard from the 80,000 in attendance.
