Paris Saint-Germain will compete for the Club World Cup title against Chelsea, following a performance that left Real Madrid shellshocked.
— Paris Saint-Germain will face Chelsea in the FIFA Club World Cup final on Sunday after blowing Real Madrid away in a 4-0 semifinal win in New Jersey that could, and should, have ended in an ever bigger humiliation for the LaLiga team.
UEFA Champions League winners PSG were 3-0 up after just 24 minutes with two goals from Fabián Ruiz and an Ousmane Dembélé strike putting the game beyond a woeful Madrid side.
But it needed two stunning saves by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and some bad misses by PSG to keep the scoreline respectable for the 15-time European champions until Gonçalo Ramos scored a deserved fourth for Luis Enrique’s team in the 87th minute.
Kylian Mbappé, starting his first game of the tournament, failed to make an impact against his former team who are now just one win away from adding a world title their treble of Champions League, Coupe de France and Ligue 1 title last season. — Mark Ogden
Pep Guardiola’s two-time Champions League-winning Barcelona team is regarded as the best club side the game has ever seen, but Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain now deserve to be in the conversation about the greatest.
Longevity is absolutely crucial when judging the best and, right now, that’s where Barcelona have the edge, but make no mistake, this PSG team has all the elements to be considered as good as the great Barça.
Guardiola’s Barcelona possessed a world-class midfield of Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta and although the genius of Lionel Messi elevated them to another level, it was that midfield axis that controlled games and made it impossible for opponents to get the ball.
But PSG’s midfield of Vitinha, João Neves and Ruiz, an often-underestimated player who scored twice against Madrid, does the same job as the Barça midfield and they utterly dominated against Jude Bellingham, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Arda Güler.
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said that Barcelona beat teams with their „passing carousel“ and that is also what PSG do.
But here’s the thing with PSG. Barça had the genius of Messi, but PSG are a collective of brilliant individuals who play as a team and work so much harder than their opponents. At half-time, FIFA stats showed that Real’s average ball recovery time was 45 seconds. PSG’s number was 23 seconds, almost twice as fast than Real’s.
They have great players, but they work for it too and that’s why PSG are the best team in the world and potentially the best it has ever seen. — Ogden
New coach, new season (well, technically end of old season), same old issues.
