A REAL HIDINGWhen Real Madrid refused en masse to turn up for last year’s Ballon d’Or ceremony because they knew their man on the shortlist hadn’t won the main award, their snub was widely and correctly perceived to have been an act of the most extreme petulance. And while their players and coaching staff did deign to attend last night’s Copa Gianni semi-final at the MetLife EnormoDome, they certainly didn’t turn up in any meaningful sense of the word and were duly humiliated by Paris Saint-Germain, the Bigger Cup holders Kylian Mbappé famously abandoned last summer to pursue his dream of … winning Bigger Cup. Subjected to the footballing equivalent of being attacked by a swarm of angry bees, Real simply had no answers for PSG’s terrifyingly energetic onslaught across 90 minutes.By the time nine of them had elapsed, Thibaut Courtois had already made two world-class saves but was helpless to prevent Fabián Ruiz and Ousmane Dembélé spanking two shots past him after capitalising on some comically slapstick defending by Raúl Asencio and Tony Rüdiger. As the German was harried into an embarrassing air-hoof in the face of mild pressure from Dembélé, Football Daily could only hazard a guess at the thoughts going through the famously self-aware Mbappé’s mind. Perhaps a blissfully unironic: “Why weren’t they this tenacious when I played for them?” In the end PSG booked their place in the final courtesy of a 4-0 win that, if anything, flattered their exalted opponents. As the hoary old saw goes, Real Madrid always find a way … even if, on this occasion, it was one that made themselves look like a set of stationary white cones laid out for a PSG training session.“I leave here with lots of certainties and next year will be different,” said Xabi Alonso, who after just six games in charge of Real knows that in Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior he is both blessed and cursed with two extraordinarily gifted players who steadfastly refuse to do their share of the grunt work. Compare and contrast with each and every member of the PSG squad, who never have to be reminded to clip the hedge, do the laundry or put the bins out. “We didn’t put the brakes on but of course with the heat, with the final in three days’ time, with cramp and the risk of tiredness, you act,” said Luis Enrique after the game, as he appeared to simultaneously confirm and deny that his team had actually taken it easy on Real in the second half.Asked to explain the key to his team’s success, he highlighted its “insuperable” play. And while it’s not often that the post-match musings of a football manager prompt Football Daily to reach for its trusty Oxford English Dictionary, it came as no surprise to see the definition in question illustrated by a swarm of angry bees. The Spaniard went on to laud the manner in which his players “give everything at the service of the team”, in praise as pointed as a tungsten needle. In a fairytale final pitting two of Europe’s pluckiest underdogs together, PSG must now beat Chelsea to complete an impressive and unprecedented quadruple. “We are going to try,” said Luis Enrique. “One more step against a good team like Chelsea. They perform the whole competition and now it is time for us to prepare, try to recover. [We are] almost there. We want to make history in our club and then take our holidays.” Having consigned so many elite teams to the beach in the past couple of months, it seems only fair PSG get their turn on the deckchairs.LIVE ON BIG WEBSITEEuro 2025 continues at pace, with Group A coming to a close tonight. Join Michael Butler for Finland 1-2 Switzerland and Sarah Rendell for Norway 3-0 Iceland (both kicking off at 8pm BST).QUOTE OF THE DAY