PSG Cruises into Club World Cup Knockouts, Faces Messi’s Inter Miami Next
Three days after suffering a rare defeat, Paris Saint-Germain bounced back with a commanding 2-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday, securing their place in the Club World Cup knockout rounds.
With Atlético Madrid defeating Botafogo—who had shocked PSG earlier—Luis Enrique’s side finished atop Group B with six points.
Despite a slip-up against the Brazilian champions, PSG opened their group campaign in style, routing Atlético 4-0. Across their three matches, they maintained dominance typical of a team fresh off a historic treble—averaging 73% possession, with six different scorers and ten players registering shots on target.
Defensively, the French giants remain almost impenetrable. Since their 3-0 Coupe de France final win, they've conceded just once in five games—a lone goal from Botafogo’s Igor Jesus.
Now, the Ligue 1, Champions League, and Coupe de France winners are aiming to add the newly revamped Club World Cup to their trophy haul. A win on Sunday would push them into the quarter-finals, where Bayern Munich or Flamengo await.
Sunday’s matchup carries personal significance as well: it reunites several figures from the iconic 2015 Barcelona squad. That year, PSG suffered one of their worst European defeats at Camp Nou to a Barça team led by Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets, and Javier Mascherano. Fast-forward to 2025, and Mascherano—now Inter Miami’s head coach—will face former Barça manager Luis Enrique. Messi, now 38, captains Inter Miami in what’s shaping up to be a narrative-heavy knockout clash.
When Messi exited Paris for MLS, few expected a competitive reunion with PSG. But the expanded Club World Cup format has created just that. Inter Miami advanced as Group A runners-up after a gritty group stage: a goalless draw against Al Ahly, a comeback win over Porto thanks to a Messi free kick, and a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras, where Suárez found the net.
Now unbeaten in six matches and scoring at least twice in five of them, Inter Miami stands as the only American side to reach the knockouts. Still, their hopes of overcoming this star-studded PSG squad are slim—but with Messi on the pitch, the impossible can never be fully ruled out.
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