Paris St-Germain have laid waste to most of Europe on their way to a season of unprecedented success, and only Chelsea stand between the form side of 2024-25 and PSG’s right to call themselves champions of the world.
As has been the case since the turn of the year, PSG, in the sweltering heat of a New Jersey afternoon, played as they have done for months. They had put three goals past the mighty Real Madrid within 24 minutes and never looked back. The substitute Gonçalo Ramos added a fourth late in the game and the referee Szymon Marciniak blew up almost precisely on 90 minutes to spare Real from any further running around.
This was a humbling afternoon for the likes of Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and former PSG star Kylian Mbappé at the end of a long season. But they are not the only ones to have suffered this way. Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal were all beaten by PSG in the Champions League this season and Chelsea will do well to avoid being added to the list.
It will take an almighty performance from Enzo Maresca’s side to win the first of the new Fifa Club World Cup tournaments, in the final back at the MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Most bookmakers had PSG as odds-on favourites by close of play.
