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UEFA Champions League winners PSG are one win away from adding the FIFA Club World Cup title to their trophy cabinet following a 4-0 semi-final thrashing of Real Madrid at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The Parisian side will meet English Premier League outfit Chelsea in the final at 5am on Monday morning AEST after the London club’s semi-final victory yesterday against Brazilian outfit Fluminense.
Treble winners PSG, courtesy of also winning Ligue 1 and the French Cup, showed why they were the dominant force in Europe in the season just gone with a brace from Fabian Ruiz as well as goals from Ousmane Dembele and Goncalo Ramos humbling the Spanish giants.
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Boxing and wrestling announcer Michael Buffer started proceedings with his famous “let’s get ready to rumble” call but it was hardly a contest as Madrid were pinned against the ropes almost immediately.
Ruiz scored first only six minutes in, burying home a loose ball into an open net after Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois possibly gave away what would have been a penalty with his diving effort to deny Dembele, but it need not matter as Ruiz pounced.
Dembele then doubled the advantage three minutes later, putting Antonio Rudiger under immense pressure before the German coughed up the ball and allowed the Frenchman to stroll inside the penalty area and finish past Courtois.
The Belgian goalkeeper was under the pump, and if not for a pair of good saves early, the score line could have been far worse.
Just about any hope of a Madrid comeback was then extinguished by Ruiz scoring his second, on the 24 minute mark, as PSG’s attackers queued up for the chance to bury the ball into the back of net on the counter-attack.
The match was effectively over before the two sides had even stopped for a hydration break on another warm afternoon at the venue which is home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets, and will host next year’s World Cup final as well as the showpiece event of this tournament.
It was the earliest in a match that Madrid had been three goals down since November 2003, while PSG last had such a lead so early in a game in April 2018.
After a lacklustre second half with the result sealed, Ramos rubbed further salt into Madrid wounds by getting his name on the scoresheet in the 87th minute after Achraf Hakimi’s excellent run down the right-hand side.
The referee then spared Madrid any further humiliation by blowing the final whistle without any additional time.
In addition to their attacking prowess, PSG reach the final having conceded just one goal for the tournament, and that came in a surprise group stage loss to Brazilian club Botafogo.
It was a disappointing farewell for Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric, who came off the bench in his last game in Real’s famous white shirt, as the loss matched a 4-0 defeat to Spanish rivals Barcelona as Madrid’s worst of the season.
Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe made his first start of the tournament against his former side, but his day started in poor fashion with a wayward shot in the warm-up knocking down a volunteer, and the French star went to console them.
Former Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold sat out the match with a right leg issue, while fellow new signing Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth also watched on from the sidelines through suspension, leaving the Madrid light on in defence.
