The pair will meet in the Club World Cup final on Sunday.
(Seth Wenig/AP)
(Seth Wenig/AP)
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European champions Paris St Germain produced a blistering performance to power into the Club World Cup final with a 4-0 rout of Real Madrid.
A one-sided semi-final in New York on Wednesday was effectively settled inside the opening 24 minutes as Fabian Ruiz struck twice either side of an Ousmane Dembele effort.
Spanish giants Real had no answer to the rampant Champions League winners, who added a fourth goal at the MetLife Stadium late on through Goncalo Ramos.
PSG – who will play Chelsea in Sunday’s final – were every bit as hot as the temperature, which reached 32C during the game.
Luis Enrique named a side featuring 10 of the players that started the Champions League final hammering of Inter Milan including, for the first time in the tournament, Dembele.
They seemed every bit as determined to reprise that famous victory as they tore into Europe’s most storied team, who were without Trent Alexander-Arnold through injury.
Real had sensed the need to make a quick start and Aurelien Tchouameni had a shot deflected wide after flicks from Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe sparked an early attack but PSG were quickly into their stride.
It took just six minutes for them to take the lead but already by then Kvicha Kvaratskhelia had gone close and Thibaut Courtois had saved from Ruiz and Dembele.
The opener came after Raul Asencio dithered in front of goal and Dembele seized possession. It seemed he may have been brought down by Courtois but it did not matter as the ball rolled to Ruiz and the Spain international tucked home.
Dembele doubled the lead just three minutes later, this time after a miskick by Antonio Rudiger allowed him to race through on goal. He gave Courtois no chance with a low finish.
Real found no response and PSG made it 3-0 after 24 minutes as Achraf Hakimi played in Ruiz and he wrong-footed Federico Valverde before slotting past Courtois.
It could have been more before the break as Kvaratskhelia put an opportunity wide and Courtois clawed away another effort from Dembele.
Desire Doue put the ball in the net after the restart but was flagged offside.
Real finally began to apply some pressure as the second half wore on with PSG easing off the gas.
Yet they could find no way through a well-organised defence and Mbappe, making his first start of the competition against his former side, fired one effort into the crowd.
Substitute Ramos wrapped up the scoring with three minutes remaining, turning to fire home from a Bradley Barcola lay-off after Real had failed to combat a quick counter-attack.