Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Inter Miami: First half blitz sends European champions to quarter-finals | OneFootball

A wonderful second-half display from Lionel Messi wasn’t enough to save Inter Miami from a heavy defeat against Paris Saint-Germain at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The European champions took the lead in just the sixth minute through João Neves, and he’d score again to kick off seven minutes of madness at the end of the first half.

Substitute Tomás Avilés scored an unfortunate own goal to make it 3-0, and the fourth goal came courtesy of Achraf Hakimi right at the end of the half.

Messi reminded the world of his quality with a stellar second half display, but it wasn’t enough to spare Inter Miami of a big defeat and elimination from the Club World Cup.

As it happened

In many ways, it wasn’t surprising that it was like this, but there’s always the romanticism of what could’ve been. Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, under the tutelage of Javier Mascherano and captained by Messi, all playing against Luis Enrique, the manager who guided them all to treble glory 10 years ago. What if they could’ve beaten their old master, currently presiding over the team with whom he won his second treble? What if football’s glorious past could’ve overcome its present?

Of course, it was always unlikely, and in the end, the past never came close. PSG took the lead in just six minutes, with not a single Inter Miami defender electing to mark Neves at the back post of a free kick. Vitinha whipped the ball towards his compatriot, who nodded home without a semblance of pressure.

This is the thing. The old Barça boys weren’t playing PSG on their own; they were playing with the rest of their Inter Miami outfit, a side more than competent in Major League Soccer, but far from able to rival the cream of the European crop.

And it showed. The first half was a massacre, a clinic, a footballing lesson. The French giants carved through their American foes with surgical precision and ruthless intent, and they did it time and time again. They would’ve doubled their lead nine minutes after taking it had Fabián Ruiz timed his run better before heading home.

Instead, they’d have to wait until the 39th minute to make it two, with Neves bagging a brace. The culprit in pink? Busquets, doing the unthinkable, giving the ball away on the edge of his own area. Ruiz played a give-and-go with Bradley Barcola before squaring the ball to the midfielder to slot home.

Then there’s the tragic tale of Avilés, who was introduced for the injured Noah Allen before immediately picking up a yellow card and accidentally scoring PSG’s third goal after diverting Desiré Doué’s cross into his own net.

They were 4-0 up at the break, with Alba failing to track the run of Barcola, who then squared the ball to Hakimi. He first crashed a shot onto the crossbar, but on the rebound faced no opposition from Oscar Ustari when tapping home.

It was a first half in which the European champions made Inter Miami look like a marketing stunt. Busquets gave away the second goal. Alba didn’t track a run for the fourth. Suárez looked like he wouldn’t be out of place at Soccer Aid. Messi had been unable to have any impact.

Their side had taken no shots to PSG’s 10. No corners to PSG’s four. Twenty-seven-per-cent of the ball to PSG’s 73. The old guard, brought together for what they thought was a pre-retirement plan in the Floridian sun, were passing the baton to the new generation in Atlanta.

Les Parisiens continued to dominate in the second half but couldn’t match the flurry of goals that came in the first. Messi, finally, showed his class with a glorious, dinked pass to Suárez in the box on 49minutes (although the Uruguayan’s loose touch hamstrung the chance before Gianluigi Donnarumma even had time to get worried), and he’d do the same again for Alba two minutes later. It was he who took Inter Miami’s first shot, won their first corner, and tested the Italian between the sticks for the first time.

But he couldn’t do it all alone. Messi looked as though he’d decided to take the game by the scruff of the neck; his old employers looked as though they’d decided to drop from second gear to first.

By the end, he’d been the best player of the second half. Every delicate flick and pinpoint pass reminded the audience, and the world, that they were watching royalty. The difference between Messi’s ability and that of his teammates was really quite absurd; it was like Paul McCartney writing songs for pub musicians to play. He’d probably earned a goal, but the closest he’d come would be a header which forced Donnarumma into a save in the final 10 minutes.

Still, Paris Saint-Germain won at a canter and have set up a quarter-final clash with either Bayern Munich or Flamengo. Inter Miami return to the east coast having gone further than they expected, having drawn the second half against the European champions, and having reminded everyone that, while the baton may have been passed, there won’t ever be another Lionel Messi.

The lineups

PSG: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Kvaratskhelia, Doué, Barcola

INT: Ustari; Weigandt, Falcón, Allen, Alba; Allende, Redondo, Busquets, Segovia; Messi, Suárez