1. PSG – the football machine that crushed Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final – brought Real Madrid back to reality, a team that has had many problems over the past year.
The new team that Xabi Alonso has taken over is still a long way from the current peak of PSG - led by former Barca man Luis Enrique.
The Champions League champions completely dominated the match against a Real Madrid side that plunged into the abyss with two serious mistakes from Raul Asencio and Antonio Rudiger.
The fall started from there, but what followed was a game in which Real Madrid showed no signs of being able to close the gap on PSG.
Luis Enrique has returned Real Madrid to the image of a few weeks ago, when they looked like a team falling apart, ending a cycle of glory.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup semi-final was delayed by 10 minutes after Real Madrid's team bus encountered a problem in the tunnel while traveling to the stadium. They also arrived late in New York due to the storm, which also added to the flight time.
Facing PSG, Real Madrid was also slow on the field, lacking energy. After only 9 minutes, they conceded 2 goals.
Although Courtois made two excellent saves, Madrid were an empty, disoriented team.
2. Asencio continued his streak of mistakes in the tournament when he failed to clear the ball in the penalty area while Ousmane Dembele was closing in.
The French player won the ball, was fouled by Courtois when he was about to shoot, but he still managed to push the ball to the right position for Fabian Ruiz to finish, easily putting PSG ahead in the 6th minute. This was Asensio's third fatal mistake in the tournament.
But the 22-year-old star was not the only centre-back who “failed to make it to the pitch” despite being there. Just 3 minutes later, Rudiger made a pass and… missed the ball.
Once again Dembele seized the opportunity, dribbling straight into the penalty area and beating Courtois in a one-on-one situation.
Real Madrid were completely invisible at that time – returning to the same tired, lifeless image as the past few months – especially when Xabi Alonso could not use two new recruits recruited to play in this tournament: Dean Huijsen was absent due to a silly red card and Trent Alexander-Arnold had a muscle strain.
With the factors that Carlo Ancelotti failed with, Alonso could only watch as PSG controlled the game at every level and speed.
3. The game was all PSG's, controlled by Vitinha, supported by Fabian Ruiz and Joao Neves. The trio not only controlled the ball, but also controlled Real Madrid.
Xabi Alonso 's players were always far away from the game, pushed back by PSG, and had no energy left to react.
Real Madrid had no ability to fight back, especially when PSG accelerated again and Fabian Ruiz scored the third goal in the 24th minute. By this time, Madrid had conceded three goals and Courtois had three saves.
The most anticipated match turned out to be a boring one-sided affair: PSG activated the speed of Doue, Dembele or Kvaratskhelia to find more goals. There was nothing left in front of them: Real Madrid had only 1 shot in the first 70 minutes.
Even the simplest passes are wrong. Vinicius is off, Mbappe is inaccurate. Bellingham and Arda Guler too. Whatever they try to do is gone very quickly.
When Luis Enrique withdrew a series of key players to rest and recover for the final with Chelsea, PSG proactively slowed down and did not get any highlights from their opponents.
PSG did not need to do anything more, and Real Madrid were completely helpless. Alonso resigned himself, so he let Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez enter the field to say goodbye to “Los Blancos”.
In a game of holding out until the final whistle, PSG still managed to score a fourth goal in the 87th minute. Barcola danced in the penalty area, created a pass for Goncalo Ramos to back-heel and then turned to finish.
Real Madrid are still far from the top football standards that Luis Enrique and PSG are showing.
Luis Enrique brought Xabi Alonso back down to earth in a journey that hardly posed too great a challenge for Real Madrid.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/psg-4-0-real-madrid-xabi-alonso-truoc-su-that-phu-phang-2419983.html
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