Club World Cup Carnival Night: Paris Saint-Germain sent Real Madrid out with a 4-0 victory, creating a 25-year miracle. The final matchups have been determined
2025-07-10
As a regular participant in the Club World Cup, Real Madrid has previously won the old version of the Club World Cup five times, with the most recent one coming in 2023. In this Club World Cup, Real Madrid qualified as the Champions League winner, topping their group and then eliminating Juventus and Dortmund to advance to the semi-finals.
Compared with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain is participating in the Club World Cup for the first time and has qualified for the tournament by virtue of its advantage in European competition points in recent years. In this tournament, Paris Saint-Germain also advanced as the top team in their group stage and then eliminated Inter Miami and Bayern Munich to reach the semi-finals.
According to the valuation by Transfermarkt, the total value of Paris Saint-Germain's team is 1.12 billion euros, while that of Real Madrid's team is 1.34 billion euros. This is a showdown between the top clubs worth over 2.4 billion euros.
The starting lineups of the two teams are as follows
Paris Saint-Germain's starting lineup: 1- Donnarumma, 2- Achraf, 5- Marquinhos, 4- Velardo, 25- Nuno Mendes, 17- Vitinha, 8- Fabian Ruiz, 87- Joao Neves, 7- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, 14- Duai, 10- Dembele
Real Madrid's starting lineup: 1- Courtois, 8- Valverde, 22- Rudiger, 35- Raul - Asensio, 20- Fran Garcia, 15- Gueler, 14- Chouameni, 5- Bellingham, 7- Vinicius, 9- Mbappe, 30- Goncalo - Garcia
What was supposed to be a closely contested showdown between top clubs turned out to be a one-sided game. Real Madrid's consecutive defensive mistakes led to their defeat, and Paris Saint-Germain conceded three goals in less than 25 minutes.
In the 6th minute of the game, Asensio made a mistake in controlling the ball inside the penalty area. Dembele intercepted the ball and was saved by the goalkeeper. Fabian easily pushed the ball into the empty goal, helping Paris Saint-Germain get off to a dream start with a 1-0 lead.
In the 9th minute, Rudiger dribbled the ball in the backfield but was intercepted by Dembele. The latter had a one-on-one opportunity and broke into the penalty area to push the ball into the net, helping Paris Saint-Germain score 2-0 again.
In just three minutes, the two central defenders of Real Madrid made a collective mistake and gave away a gift. Moreover, they were already trailing 0-2 less than ten minutes into the game, which made the head coach Alonso frown.
In the 24th minute, Paris Saint-Germain extended their lead to 3-0: A quick counterattack with several passes and combinations broke through Real Madrid's defense. Achraf crossed the ball into the penalty area, and Fabian swept the ball into the net, completing his brace.
In less than 25 minutes, Paris Saint-Germain took a 3-0 lead, basically ending the suspense of the game and becoming the team that has led Real Madrid by three goals in the fastest international matches of this century, creating a 25-year miracle overnight.
In this regard, it is almost impossible for Real Madrid to stage a comeback. They also need to prevent their defense from conceding more goals. Paris Saint-Germain's attack is just too strong.
According to statistics, Dembele has become the fourth French player to score in the semi-final of the Club World Cup. The previous three were Gignac, Ribery and Benzema. In addition, Dembele has made seven starts for Paris in international competitions and contributed three goals and five assists.
Shortly after the second half began, Dembele assisted Duai to score with a solo shot, but the goal was disallowed as Dembele was offside. Soon after, Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were substituted early, with Balkola and Goncalo Ramos coming on as substitutes. Paris Saint-Germain blew the whistle to call it a day.
In the 87th minute, Goncalo Ramos added to the score, helping Paris Saint-Germain secure a 4-0 victory. Real Madrid suffered a crushing defeat and was eliminated, bidding farewell to this Club World Cup in advance.