Inter Miami Eat a Slice of Humble Pie in Atlanta

Inter Miami’s FIFA Club World Cup journey came to a bitter end on Sunday, with the Herons falling to a 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Atlanta.

It had been just a month since PSG defeated Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Final 5-0 to secure their first-ever European Cup. Just like they did in the final, Les Parisiens opened proceedings by launching the kickoff into Miami’s half. It was almost as if to say to them: ‘You can have possession just this one time – we’ll be having possession for most of the match. And when we do have possession, it will be in your half.’

Just like they did in the final, PSG dominated proceedings from start to finish, stepping into overdrive and pinning the Floridians back. They took the advantage after five minutes when Vitinha floated a free kick into João Neves, who headed home the opener. Miami narrowly clung on for dear life and defended doggedly, but eventually, the facade melted under PSG’s intense pressure. Fabián Ruiz caught Sergio Busquets napping and robbed his compatriot of possession, combining with Bradley Barcola and eventually working the ball to Neves, who converted the second goal in the 39th minute.

From that point onwards, the floodgates had opened. Désiré Doué fired in a cross into the box, which deflected off substitute Tomás Avilés for the third goal. The demolition was complete on the cusp of halftime as Vitinha sprayed a pass towards Barcola, who teed up Achraf Hakimi. The Moroccan right back blazed a shot off the post before converting the follow-up to secure the four-goal advantage.

Miami woke up in the second half; rather than getting completely dominated and bewildered by PSG’s press, they started to impose themselves on the proceedings with Lionel Messi taking matters into his own hands and conjuring up a number of golden opportunities. Ultimately, though, it was too little, too late. As much as the traveling Miami support continued to cheer their team on with a number of ‘Messi’ chants and Mexican waves, the quality gap was simply too large.

Speaking to Five Reasons Sports Network after the match, Inter Miami manager Javier Mascherano admitted, “I think it leaves a great lesson for all of us because when you face rivals of the highest level, it gives us a friction that we’re not used to having. We play against rivals in our league and from elsewhere in Concacaf. But without disrespecting anyone, European teams and big South American teams like Palmeiras are on another level. But it gives us a big lesson, and we will make an analysis from all of this. I think one thing goes with another – if we can profit from this experience, and all of this friction, from these two weeks of playing against these top-level opponents, we can bring this to MLS. It will depend on the intelligence that we have as a group in order to profit from it.”

Inter Miami will return to action on Saturday with a match against Montreal, whilst PSG will prepare for another match in Atlanta against German behemoths Bayern Munich.