Igor Jesus of Botafogo celebrates his goal against PSG during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025

The Club World Cup has finally caught the imagination after a slow start to the competition, due in no small part to Botafogo's astonishing victory over European Champions, Paris Saint-Germain.

Pre-tournament, Luis Enrique's side had been installed as one of the favourites for the title in a newly-revamped competition, thanks to the way in which they swatted aside all comers in the Champions League and completely destroyed their opponents in the French top-flight.

Indeed, the way in which the Ligue 1 giants have eased through the gears in some games has been a joy to watch.

In all fairness, this match was there for the taking too for0PSG but no matter how hard they tried it just wasn't their day.

74.6% possession and 749 passes compared to just 262 from the Brazilians gives a flavour of how well the European side controlled the game from start to finish.

Vitinha's sensational 144 passes - the most in this tournament by one player in a game so far - deserved a better reward than finishing on the losing side, as the Portuguese probed and prompted throughout the 90 minutes.

PSG vs Botafogo Match Stats

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, so often the protagonist for PSG, will have also been disappointed that his five shots came to nothing.

As can sometimes happen, once a team that are used to playing a more fluid, front-foot game are knocked out of their stride, it's difficult to find that rhythm again.

Botafogo's Gregore was certainly not going to allow his side to get walked all over, and his six fouls in the game, most of which were tactical, were more than any other player on the pitch and hints at the strategy from Renato Paiva.

That robustness was replicated throughout the side - Alexander Barboza's six tackles was the most attempted by anyone on either side - and whilst it wasn't pretty at times, Paiva would've understood before kick-off that there was no point in trying to stand toe to toe with PSG as they would've been picked off like so many teams before them in the 2024/25 campaign.

Ousmane Dembele's pace and unpredictability were sorely missed, and Desire Doue was unusually a little off colour too, with just two shots in the entire game. Whilst his five crosses were more than any other player, they rarely troubled PSG's opponents.

Fouls by Botafogo's Gregore against PSG

More centrally in attack, Goncalo Ramos was invisible - just seven touches in the first half - and it's little wonder Luis Enrique was animated on the touchline, letting rip at his striker on more than one occasion.

For all of PSG's intentions to attack, Botafogo appeared content to soak up the incessant pressure. 31 crosses in total to Botafogo's three, 10 corners to 1 and 41 dribbles attempted by PSG compared to 16 from the Brazilian outfit is a sure sign of just how one-sided this game was at times.

And yet, more tackles attempted by Paiva's side (23 to 19) and more successful (15 to 12) allowed them to sporadically hit their more celebrated opponents on the attack in the occasional orchestrated move upfield.

With a number of PSG players stranded after another pincer movement that had come to nothing, it was from just such a play that Igor Jesus bobbled home the opener, a goal that turned out to be the only one of the game and his second of the tournament.

It was also just one of four shots that the team had in the entire game, and what we learn from that is there's a blueprint from the match that might also be one that other teams will look to follow both in this tournament and during the 2025/26 campaign, given its effectiveness.

The hard work that was being put in shouldn't be overlooked either. Six Botafogo players won possession back on at least four occasions, so if the team weren't going to emerge victorious, it can at least be said they'd given it their all in terms of effort and application.

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For a game that PSG were probably expected to win easily, frustration soon crept in and was clearly evident in their play the longer that the game went on - precisely the response Botafogo would've been looking for.0

The celebrations at full-time showed just how much the win meant to every player, and it's certainly shaken up Group B.

All the momentum in the game was with PSG against Botafogo

In practice, what that one goal means is that Botafogo now lead the group with six points, PSG and Atletico Madrid have three each, and Seattle Sounders are bottom without a point.

The Spaniard's only hope of qualifying now is to beat the Brazilians by at least three clear goals in their final match.

Given that Diego Simeone and his Atleti team are the masters of playing a more physical game and won't be at all fazed by any such tactics from their opponents, the question for Botafogo is whether they're now able to adapt their own modus operandi to ensure their continued participation in the tournament.

Jason Pettigrove