PSG embarrasses Real Madrid in one-sided Club World Cup semifinal, confirms its supremacy
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Real Madrid is the most successful club in the history of soccer, the most popular sports team in the world, with wealth and aura in epic proportions. It is Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Jr., and two dozen others who comprise the most valuable squad in the sport. And yet, on a boiling Wednesday afternoon here at MetLife Stadium, it melted like cheap butter under the searing pressure of Paris Saint-Germain.
This, the second Club World Cup semifinal, was supposed to be a clash of giants. It quickly turned into a bludgeoning.
Advertisement
Real Madrid was sleepy and sloppy. PSG was ruthless, and smashed the so-called kings of Europe, 4-0.
The Parisians could've scored twice in the first five minutes. Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois denied them, but only delayed the inevitable. Fabian Ruiz scored in the sixth minute. Ousmane Dembélé pounced on a mistake in the ninth. Ruiz scored again in the 24th, and some of the 80,000 Real Madrid fans in attendance got out of their seats and sulked toward the concourse.
They had filled MetLife Stadium to the brim. They were buoyed by the return of Mbappé, who started his first game of this Club World Cup at the tip of a star-studded attack — and against his former club.
Advertisement
But Los Blancos were outrun and overrun by the reigning champions of Europe, by the team that recently stole their crown.
They were pinned back into their own defensive half, pulled side to side, and punished for their lack of focus and intensity — punished by the undisputed best team in the world.
Ruiz tore them to shreds, sneaking toward and into the penalty area. He nearly curled a fourth-minute shot past Courtois, before Real Madrid had even woken from its siesta.
Twenty-five seconds later, Hakimi crossed to Dembélé, and only a sprawling Courtois kept PSG at bay.
But not for long. A minute after that, Désiré Doué danced down the right. His cross was cut out; but then Raúl Asencio spaced out. Dembélé nicked the ball off Asencio, evaded Courtois, and Ruiz scored easily.
The left side of Madrid's defense couldn't come to grips with the fluid four-man combinations of Ruiz, Achraf Hakimi, Doué and Dembélé. Asencio and Fran Garcia were overwhelmed, and looked out of their depth. They told of an unbalanced squad, headlined by Galacticos but filled in with relatively average role players.
Advertisement
That unbalanced squad ran into a thoroughly brilliant one, an optimized machine. PSG's possession was equal parts commanding and dynamic. Its pressing, as always, was aggressive, coordinated and relentless. It was led by Dembélé, who returned from his injury and jumped Antonio Rüdiger, the aging center back who was once so crucial to Real's dominance.
Here, in the ninth minute, Rüdiger was culpable. He accidentally and clumsily tapped a ball with his plant foot. And Dembélé said goodnight.
All three first-half goals came from the PSG right — or the Madrid left. The third was the prettiest — but also the most damning. It was essentially five passes — Hakimi to Doué, Doué to Hakimi, Hakimi to Dembélé, Dembélé to Hakimi, Hakimi to Ruiz — that took the Parisians from back to front, then into the box. They met hardly any resistance. It looked like a counterattack; but no, it was just Real Madrid's openness.
Advertisement
PSG's dominance wasn't confined to one side of the field, though. Nuno Mendes, the do-everything left back, was everywhere. He was bombing down the wing, bamboozling Real Madrid by inverting into the half-space, and even chasing down Vinicius Jr. when the Real Madrid star looked to be in on goal in the first half.
Like against Inter Miami in the Round of 16, PSG was so far and away the better team that it downshifted in the second half. Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia exited. Those who stayed in the game seemed to be saving their legs for Sunday's final against Chelsea.
But like against Inter Milan in the Champions League final, even when they downshifted, they were better. Goncalo Ramos scored a fourth goal off the bench late on. Real Madrid shoulders slumped.
Advertisement
By the 90th minute, it was no contest. Despite a cooling break, merciful referees opted to not add any stoppage time. Szymon Marciniak, the head ref, blew his whistle. And Real Madrid, which brought more eyeballs to this Club World Cup than anybody else, slumped out of the competition, one step short of the final.
Here's how the match went down in real time:
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Westchester softball team advances to Little League World Series
The softball team from Westchester Del Rey Little League won the West Regional in San Bernardino on Friday, beating Tucson 12-2 in a five-inning mercy rule to advance to the Little League World Series in Greenville, N.C. Pitcher Gabriela Uribe started the game with three scoreless innings and ended up finishing. After an early 2-2 tie, Westchester broke the game open. Westchester's pitching has been very good behind Uribe and Kaylee Braunlich. Paul Vogler is the team's coach. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.


CBS News
3 minutes ago
- CBS News
Kurtz becomes first MLB rookie with 4-homer game as A's beat Astros 15-3
Nick Kurtz became the first major league rookie to hit four homers in a game, leading the Athletics to a 15-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night. Kurtz went 6-for-6 with eight RBIs and six runs scored. He's just the second player in Major League Baseball history to have four homers in a six-hit game, joining Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 23, 2002, at Milwaukee, and he matched Green's MLB record with 19 total bases. It was the first six-hit game for the Athletics since Joe DeMaestri on July 8, 1955, at Detroit. The 22-year-old also had a single and a double that hit just below the yellow line over the visitor's bullpen in the fourth inning. Kurtz singled in the first and his two-run homer in the second put the Athletics ahead 5-0. His solo shot in the sixth made it 10-2. His third homer was his longest, a 414-foot drive into the second deck in the eighth. Kurtz's final homer came against outfielder Cooper Hummel, a three-run, opposite-field line drive to the Crawford boxes in left field that made it 15-2. Kurtz extended his hitting streak to 12 game,s and his 23 home runs are the most for an A's rookie since Yoenis Céspedes in 2012 and fourth most in franchise history. Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers also homered for the A's, who had a season high in runs. Jeffrey Springs (9-7) allowed two runs over six innings. Zack Short hit a two-run homer for Houston in the fifth. Ryan Gusto (6-4) allowed eight runs on eight hits over 3 1/3 innings. Hummel had allowed one run and retired two batters in the ninth when Kurtz hit a 77 mph, 2-0 pitch for his fourth homer. Kurtz is batting .553 (26 for 47) with nine homers and 20 RBIs during his 12-game hitting streak. Houston RHP Hunter Brown (9-4 2.57 ERA) opposes LHP Jacob Lopez (3-6 4.60 ERA) when the series continues Saturday.


CBS News
3 minutes ago
- CBS News
Lindor homers, leading Mets past Giants 8-1 for fifth straight win
Francisco Lindor homered in the third, Brandon Nimmo added a two-run single in the fourth and Juan Soto drove in two runs as New York backed Clay Holmes, and the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 8-1 on Friday night for their fifth straight win. Holmes (9-5) surrendered one run and six hits over five innings with two strikeouts and a walk for his first win in five starts since beating Atlanta on June 25. New York got on the board in a hurry against All-Star Logan Webb (9-8). Nimmo doubled leading off the game and scored on Soto's RBI groundout, while Lindor singled after Nimmo and Pete Alonso drove him home on a sacrifice fly. Soto added an RBI single in the ninth. Webb has had back-to-back rough outings. He was tagged for a career-high tying 11 hits over six innings of a 6-3 loss at Toronto on Saturday, then gave up six runs and eight hits in four innings Friday. The Giants' lone run came on a groundout by Willy Adames in the first. New York kicked off a stretch of nine consecutive games against the NL West by extending its streak that has come on the heels of a three-game skid. The Mets are seeking their first series win in San Francisco since 2018. The Giants placed right-handed starter Landen Roupp on the 15-day injured list with inflammation in his pitching elbow, recalling righty Tristan Beck from Triple-A Sacramento. Beck relieved Webb to begin the fifth. With Adames at second with a two-out double in the third, Matt Chapman was originally ruled safe at first on a throwing error by third baseman Ronny Mauricio. But the Mets challenged the tag call and Chapman was ruled out on replay review to end the inning. Lindor wound up 3 for 5 with his 20th home run, a double and three runs scored with a pair of strikeouts after snapping his 0-for-31 drought Wednesday against the Angels. LHP David Peterson (6-4, 2.90 ERA) pitches Saturday night's middle game for the Mets opposite Giants LHP Robbie Ray (9-4, 2.92) as he tries again for double-digit victories with a three-start winless stretch.