PSG delivered a dominant performance on Wednesday afternoon, rolling past Real Madrid 4-0 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to book a place in Sunday’s 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final against Chelsea.
The French side exploded out of the gates with three goals in the opening 30 minutes, catching Real Madrid completely off guard and never letting up.
The opener came after a costly mistake by Raúl Asencio. Ousmane Dembélé pressured the defense and forced a save from Thibaut Courtois, but Fabián Ruiz reacted quickest to slot home the rebound with a composed left-footed finish.
PSG struck again soon after. Antonio Rüdiger, under pressure from Dembélé near his own box, gave the ball away. Dembélé pounced, drove into the area, and tucked a low shot past Courtois with his left foot.
Just before halftime, PSG made it three. Achraf Hakimi surged down the right and squared the ball to Ruiz, who shrugged off Federico Valverde and finished confidently with his left.
The fourth came late on after another Hakimi burst down the wing. He found Bradley Barcola in the box, who calmly laid it off for Gonçalo Ramos. The striker spun and fired into the back of the net to cap a statement win.
After the match, MARCA’s Vicente Azpitarte went after Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappé. While PSG’s attackers were pressing and generating turnovers that led to goals, the Real Madrid stars weren’t bringing that same intensity, leading to the criticism.
"You can’t compete with two forwards up top who don’t defend," Azpitarte said. " Mbappé and Vinicius need to become aware of that."
Real Madrid didn’t have Trent Alexander-Arnold or Dean Huijsen, so their backline wasn’t at its best. However, PSG didn’t have Willian Pacho and inserted Lucas Beraldo into the starting lineup, leading the Br azilian to step up his game while Asencio struggled in this match.