Paris Saint-Germain picked up their first win at the Club World Cup as they outclassed Atletico Madrid at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
- Ruiz and Vitinha scored in PSG win
- Atletico had Alvarez goal disallowed
- PSG face Botafogo next
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Somewhat fresh from their historic Champions League triumph, PSG were straight into their work as they hounded Atletico out of possession and cut them open at will on the attack. The Liga side could only keep the French champions out until the 19th minute, when Ruiz fired a fabulous strike past Jan Oblak from the edge of the area.
Luis Enrique’s outfit looked bright and breezy even off the back of a tough 2024-25 schedule and doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time through Vitinha. The former Wolves midfielder ran at the Atletico defence on the counter attack, using Goncalo Ramos as a decoy runner before curling into the far corner.
It would have been 3-0 at the start of the second half if not for a stunning Oblak save, the Slovenian getting his fingertips to a rasping Khvicha Kvaratskhelia drive.
Atletico did try to engineer a comeback and looked to have pulled one back when Julian Alvarez finished sharply past Gianluigi Donnarumma, but the strike was chalked off as Koke was judged to have tripped Desire Doue. Their hopes of rescuing anything from the game then took a major blow, however, as Clement Lenglet talked himself into a second yellow card and was sent off.
PSG looked increasingly likely to get a third and it eventually arrived as Atletico failed to clear their lines. The ball fell to Senny Mayulu, who cracked his shot in at the near post and that effort was followed up with a fourth goal when Lee Kang-in fired in a penalty.
THE MVP
PSG’s attackers were vibrant even without the injured Ousmane Dembele, but it was Vitinha who really stood out. The Portugal international seemed to have all the time he wanted in central midfield, rarely looking troubled by Pablo Barrios or Rodrigo De Paul, and his composure when running towards goal before finding the corner was exquisite.
