One of the most eagerly awaited clashes in the last 16 of the Club World Cup pitted Lionel Messi and PSG against each other, with Inter Miami having the opportunity to challenge the reigning UEFA Champions League winners in a knockout match. Unfortunately, the MLS clubs' farewell to the international tournament in the USA turned out to be extremely disappointing.
It only took six minutes for PSG to impose their superiority on Inter Miami. Vitinha took a free-kick from the left flank and João Neves read it correctly, taking advantage of the enormous freedom in the penalty area to head the ball into the goal and begin to expose the defensive weaknesses.
Keeping up the pressure on their opponents at every possible moment, PSG made the most of their enormous freedom down the left, relying on Kvaratskhelia's excellent individual runs. Ustari came up with a great save, but the pressure on Inter MIami's outlet was enough to provoke a fatal error from Sergio Busquets, who left the ball for Barcola to take advantage of and give a pass to Fabián Ruiz to set up João Neves in the empty goal.
Just before the break, Doué came up well on the right and linked up with Hakimi in the area, and Avilés scored an own goal in a desperate attempt to cut him out, leaving the score at 3-0. In stoppage time, Barcola darted in behind his marker on the right and, with plenty of space, set up Hakimi, who finished twice to score the fourth goal in training.
Messi failed to score during the second half
PSG completely slowed down the pace in the second half and Lionel Messi had a few chances to score for a global audience, but Donnarumma managed to prevent the goals with very sure saves. And even without the intensity of the first half, Luis Enrique's side created enough chances to score a fifth goal.
We had a breath of comfort with the presence of Inter Miami in the Round of 16 after the early eliminations of Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC. However, being eliminated with a merciless defeat left a bad feeling that the MLS can and must raise its game.