PSG players Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi celebrate during the Club World Cup semi-final against Real Madrid

The second of the Club World Cup semi-finals saw serial winners, Real Madrid, take on current Champions League holders, Paris Saint-Germain, in what was sure to be a mouth-watering contest.

French pair, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe, started for their teams for the first time in this tournament, giving rise to the notion it would be an exciting contest as the former had 46 goal contributions in 2024/25 and the latter 48.0

Even so, it's doubtful anyone could've predicted such a fast start with six shots at goal collectively before Fabian Ruiz put PSG ahead in the sixth minute.

It set the tone for the game, which exploded into life again just three minutes later when Dembele fired home.

Los Blancos were shell-shocked and second best in all aspects, with PSG retaining 65.1% possession in the first 15 minutes.

The quality of ball retention from the French side, too, was in stark contrast to Real's awful attempts at stringing a decent move together.

If ever there was a snapshot of the changing of the guard in European football, the early stages of this match may well have provided it.

Mbappe provided some resistance with three shots in the first 22 minutes, but when Ruiz bagged his second after another free-flowing move at breakneck speed, the match was already over as a contest with three-quarters of the game still to play.

To give some perspective on proceedings, Real hadn't conceded three goals in the opening 25 minutes of a match since November 9th, 2003, vs. Sevilla in LaLiga.

By half-time PSG had completed 31 line-breaking passes to Real Madrid's nine whilst posting an astonishing 92% pass completion, and such was the former's dominance, that they had time and space to toy with a team who are in the opinion of many the best in the world, but who were restricted to just 23.5% possession in the first half.

PSG's CWC record of W3, D0, L0 when leading at half-time will have been an ominous sign for the Los Blancos faithful, and intriguingly, only their opponents in the final, Chelsea, have stopped the opposition from scoring a first-half goal in the tournament more often than the five times managed by Luis Enrique's side.

Despite attempting 300 more passes than Real, PSG had misplaced fewer (23-29) as we approached the hour mark.

PSG Passing Network vs Real Madrid

As an exercise in positional awareness, game intelligence, playing under pressure and accuracy when moving at speed, Luis Enrique will have been delighted by what he was watching, for it was almost faultless at times.

​PSG's superiority meant that it wasn't until the 58th minute of the game that an anonymous0Vinicius Jr. had his one and only shot of the game, which was blocked. Indeed, Real's 11 shots in total saw just two on target in a match that was instantly forgettable for their expensively put-together front line.

PSG vs Real Madrid Momentum Shift

Try as Xabi Alonso's side might, they had no answer, and even when they tried to change things and loft balls into the box,0Lucas Beraldo (3/3) and Marquinhos (5/5) won all eight of the aerial duels they contested. There was simply no way through.

Vitinha continued to boss the midfield, and his 121 touches in the game were more than double those of every Real Madrid player. Of those, 112 were passes and 104 were accurate to give him a brilliant 92.9% pass completion.

For all of Desire Doue's skills,0Achraf Hakimi's raiding and Ousmane Dembele's goalscoring prowess, it's Vitinha that knits everything together, and his 600+ completed passes in the competition to date is at least 200 more than anyone else.

​With the Spanish giants not used to such a mauling, Alonso decided to switch things around by making a triple substitution in the 64th minute, Jude Bellingham, Vini and Raul Asencio all being hooked.

Gonzalo Garcia would follow shortly after, and his replacement, Dani Carvajal, was booked within two minutes of his introduction for being a little overzealous, something that's become the Spaniard's trademark.

PSG vs Real Madrid Match Stats

With five to play, Real had still only managed a single shot on target, so thank God for Eder Militao's late effort as it continued their run of having at least two shots on target in every game since a Copa del Rey semi-final vs. FC Barcelona on March 2nd, 2023 (0 shots on target).

It counted for nothing of course, and Goncalo Ramos provided the coup de grace with PSG's fourth as the game edged towards its conclusion.

Real can't have any complaints about the four-goal hammering, which was actually their first ever loss at the FIFA Club World Cup in their 21st match, including previous formats. Four goals is also the most they've conceded in any match in the competition.

PSG vs Real Madrid Player Ratings

From a PSG perspective, since the Coupe de France final on May 24th, they've won all five knockout round matches they've played in all competitions by a combined score of 18-0.

They're now 90 minutes away from a maiden CWC title, with Premier League outfit, Chelsea, hoping to upset the odds and stop the reigning Champions League winner from a tournament triumph for the first time since the Blues themselves lost to0Corinthians in 2012.

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Jason Pettigrove