By Sachit Subba • Football • Jun 29, 2025 23:34 PM • 91 views
Joao Neves delivered a performance of pure class as Paris Saint-Germain dismantled Inter Miami 4-0 at a packed Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sunday night, booking their ticket to the Club World Cup quarter-finals in emphatic fashion. The reigning Champions League winners wasted no time in stamping their authority on the contest. Just six minutes in, Neves ghosted to the back post to head in a pinpoint delivery from a set-piece, leaving the Miami defence scrambling and Gianluigi Donnarumma barely tested in PSG's goal. The French giants, playing with a level of intensity and precision that underlined their European pedigree, doubled their advantage before halftime. Bradley Barcola orchestrated a swift attacking move, slipping the ball into Fabian Ruiz, who curled a sumptuous cross for Neves to calmly slot home his second of the night. From there, it was a route. Inter Miami, led by Lionel Messi, found themselves suffocated under PSG's relentless pressing and fluid transitions. Messi himself was largely anonymous in the opening 45 minutes, forced to drop deeper and deeper in a vain attempt to influence proceedings. Just before the break, Miami's unravelling was complete. A dangerous cross from PSG's teenage sensation Désiré Doué forced centre-back Tomas Avilés into an unfortunate own goal, further silencing the Miami faithful, who had made the trip in hopes of witnessing a Messi-inspired miracle.
Achraf Hakimi then added insult to injury, latching onto the rebound of his own thunderous strike that cannoned off the crossbar, tapping in PSG's fourth with ice-cold composure seconds before the halftime whistle. "It was an almost perfect match," said PSG boss Luis Enrique post-match. "We created so many chances and were clinical. But in football, perfection is a moving target—we must keep improving." Messi showed flickers of his brilliance after the break, most notably testing Donnarumma with a sharp header off a rare Miami counter and whipping a late free-kick into the wall to the collective groan of a crowd yearning for a consolation goal. For Miami, it was a sobering reminder of the gulf that still exists between North American ambition and European elite execution. "I'm proud of the effort," said Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano, Messi's former Argentina teammate. "You could see the difference in quality. PSG might be the best team in the world at the moment. But we didn't shy away." Paris Saint-Germain now turns their focus to the quarter-final clash, where a showdown looms against either Flamengo or Bayern Munich—a meeting of continental titans, each with eyes firmly fixed on global supremacy. For Miami and for Messi, the Club World Cup dream is over—for now. For PSG, the hunt for another crown is just heating up.
