PSG ease to win over Real Madrid

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PSG 4 - 0 Real Madrid

Paris St-Germain cruised into the Fifa Club World Cup final with a commanding win over Real Madrid, setting up a showdown with Chelsea on Sunday.

Author | Peter Grainger

Stadium | MetLife Stadium

Club World Cup | PSG 4 - 0 Real Madrid

The semi-final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was effectively settled within the opening 25 minutes, as the European champions tore through a surprisingly fragile Madrid side.

Fabian Ruiz opened the scoring in the sixth minute after Raul Asencio failed to clear under pressure, with the referee allowing play to continue despite Thibaut Courtois bringing down Ousmane Dembele moments earlier.

Dembele, a constant menace, doubled the lead soon after when he pounced on a miscued clearance from Antonio Rudiger and calmly slotted past Courtois.

READ MORE | Club World Cup news and stories

The third arrived before the half-hour mark, Ruiz finishing neatly after an intricate exchange between Achraf Hakimi and Dembele carved open the defence.

Real, without the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold, looked disjointed and short of ideas. Goncalo Ramos added a fourth late on to round off a statement win for PSG.

PSG are a team transformed

All eyes were on Kylian Mbappé, who returned to face his former club less than a year after departing for Madrid. But while the French striker has impressed individually (amassing 48 goals and assists this season) his new side have not won a trophy since their Intercontinental Cup success earlier in the season. 

In stark contrast, PSG under Luis Enrique look reborn. Free-flowing, relentless and tactically sharp, they have swept aside some of Europe’s biggest names in recent months. Inter Milan were thrashed 5-0 in the Champions League final. Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and now Real Madrid have all been dispatched without reply on American soil.

This win puts PSG on course for a remarkable 2025 haul, with the Club World Cup potentially their fourth major trophy of the year, five if you include the Trophée des Champions.

Madrid, meanwhile, will be left to reflect on a bruising end to the season and the challenge of finding cohesion in a squad that, on paper, should be achieving more.

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