Club World Cup Player Ratings and Match Highlights

PSG advanced to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday evening with a dominant 4-0 victory over Inter Miami.

The French giants got off to a flying start, and just a minute after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia broke through the Inter Miami defence and had his shot saved by Oscar Ustari, PSG made it 1-0 with the most simple of goals. The goal may have been simple, but it was very well worked. Vitinha stood over the free kick in the wide area and just lofted it to the back post to arguably the smallest man on the pitch, Joao Neves, and all he had to do was guide his header down, and he did exactly that. Inter Miami will be kicking themselves because they let themselves concede a set piece, however, it was well worked by the Champions League winners.

In the 15th minute, PSG thought they had made it 2-0, but their goal was immediately flagged for offside. The Inter Miami players and Javier Mascherano will be thankful it was flagged offside, as this move was even simpler than the move to put PSG 1-0 up, as it was yet another lofted cross into the box, which was put across goal and tapped in.

Although PSG had a goal disallowed, they will not care, as around 25 minutes after Fabian Ruiz’s goal was ruled out, the French giants produced yet another piece of magic, and this time made it 2-0. It was yet another phenomenal, slick move which involved many PSG players, and when they eventually made their way into the Inter Miami box, Ruiz fed a perfect pass through to the scorer of the first goal, Neves, and he tapped it home to double his side’s lead and double his goal tally for the match.

Just five minutes after making it 2-0, PSG found themselves in a 3-0 lead thanks to an Inter Miami own goal. This goal came from yet another simple move as Desire Doue just fired a cross into the box, and Tomas Aviles, who was brought on to the pitch after just 19 minutes to replace Noah Allen, put it into his own net after failing to deal with Doue’s dangerous and powerful cross. At first, it looked like Ruiz got first contact on the ball. However, upon review, Aviles definitely touched it first and put it past his own goalkeeper.

If Inter Miami thought it couldn’t get any worse before the referee blew his whistle for half-time, they were wrong, as PSG made it 4-0. More phenomenal football from PSG was on show, and this time, the move was finished off by Achraf Hakimi. The Moroccan hit the crossbar with his original effort from inside the box. However, that effort came straight back to him, and he tapped it past the Inter Miami goalkeeper to make it 4-0 and have the game won before the half-time whistle.

The first half came to a close with PSG in a commanding 4-0 lead.

Just when you thought that Inter Miami had nothing for PSG, Lionel Messi almost produced a moment of absolute magic. Jordi Alba played a lofted ball to the Argentine on the edge of the box, and he cushioned it off his iconic left foot first time and lofted it over to Luis Suarez, but the Uruguayan just couldn’t touch it down.

Although PSG maintained their obvious attacking threat, Inter Miami definitely grew into the match in the second half and looked a lot more threatening, mainly down to Messi and Suarez. Just like they did during their prime days at Barcelona, the two linked up very well and created some really good opportunities; however, there was just a pace and intensity difference between themselves and the PSG players.

Despite some promise from Inter Miami in the second half, PSG managed to see the game out and won 4-0 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Match Highlights

Paris Saint-Germain Player Ratings

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma – 7.5/10

Hardly had a single save to make during the match, and hardly had anything to do with the ball at his feet either.

RB: Achraf Hakimi – 8.5/10

A constant attacking threat throughout the match. Hakimi managed to get on the scoresheet and was always looking to make things happen in the final third, whether it was through crosses, individual runs, and he also did his fair share of defensive work.

CB: Marquinhos – 7.5/10

Unchallenged defensively and didn’t put a foot wrong on the ball. Marquinhos was substituted at half-time.

CB: Willian Pacho – 7.5/10

Just like Marquinhos, Pacho didn’t have that much to do defensively, but also didn’t really put a foot wrong when playing the ball out from defence.

LB: Nuno Mendes – 7.5/10

A huge threat up and down the left flank throughout the whole match. Mendes often found himself as the highest PSG player in the final third. However, just like his full-back counterpart, Hakimi, he also made sure to do his fair share of defensive work.

CM: Vitinha – 8.5/10

Controlled the midfield as he always seems to do. Vitinha barely misplaced a single pass, and he was a constant creative threat for his side as he was always looking for cross-field diagonal passes to start attacks, and he was also a threat with his set-piece delivery.

CM: Joao Neves – 9/10 (Man of the Match)

A great performance capped off with his first-ever brace in a PSG shirt. Neves’ two goals may have been simple, but they were both well taken, and his movement to get into such good areas is impressive.

CM: Fabian Ruiz – 8/10

A superb creative influence during his time on the pitch. The Spaniard may have just played the first 45 minutes, but he was at the centre of a lot of PSG’s well-worked attacking moves and managed to get an assist to his name.

RW: Desire Doue – 7/10

Arguably the quietest of the PSG frontline. Doue still maintained an attacking threat, but he didn’t have as much involvement in the match as the likes of Barcola and Kvaratskhelia.

ST: Bradley Barcola – 7/10

An energetic presence up front, and linked with his fellow attackers really well despite not being able to get a goal or assist to his name.

LW: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – 8/10

Started the match on fire where he was weaving his way through the whole Inter Miami defence. The Georgian had Weigandt on strings every single time he took him on, and the Argentine was arguably fortunate not to receive a red card.

SUB: Warren Zaire-Emery – 6.5/10

Tidy on the ball, but didn’t really have any significant involvement in the match.

SUB: Lucas Beraldo – 7/10

Came on and put in a defensively solid performance.

SUB: Ousmane Dembele – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

SUB: Lucas Hernandez – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

SUB: Kang-In Lee – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.

Inter Miami Player Ratings

GK: Oscar Ustari – 5.5/10

Made some decent saves throughout the match, but he just faced too many shots to give his side any chance at getting anything out of the match.

RB: Marcelo Weigandt – 5/10

Really struggled against Kvaratskhelia. Weigandt was arguably fortunate not to be shown a red card for his repeated fouls on the Georgian as he was getting more and more frustrated that he had the better of him.

CB: Maximiliano Falcon – 6/10

Made some decent recoveries and clearances, but looked uncomfortable and physically struggled when being attacked by the PSG forwards.

CB: Noah Allen – 6/10

Substituted after just 19 minutes after suffering an early injury.

LB: Jordi Alba – 5.5/10

Struggled with the pace of the match and looked to tire and wear down as the match went on which gave PSG more and more opportunities later on in the match.

RM: Tadeo Allende – 6.5/10

Worked really hard and won a lot of duels, but couldn’t really offer anything going forward with the ball.

CM: Federico Redondo – 7.5/10

Had some really tidy moments on the ball and also worked very hard in midfield against a high-quality and intense PSG midfield.

CM: Sergio Busquets – 6/10

As always, Busquets was tidy on the ball. However, at times, he did seem to struggle with the pace of the match.

LM: Telasco Segovia – 5.5/10

Never really got involved in the match and seemed to struggle both physically and with the fast pace of the match.

ST: Lionel Messi – 7.5/10

Tried his best to make things happen, but Inter Miami just didn’t have enough of the ball. Even with extremely limited time on the ball, Messi still managed to create a few good opportunities for his teammates. However, they could not take them.

ST: Luis Suarez – 7/10

Had some really nice moments where he linked up with Messi. Suarez worked really hard and kept the PSG defenders guessing throughout the match, even at the age of 38.

SUB: Tomas Aviles – 4.5/10

Struggled from the moment he entered the pitch. To top off his struggles, Aviles scored an own goal to give PSG a 3-0 lead.

SUB: Benjamin Cremaschi – N/A

Didn’t do much after coming on.