Mbappé gets stuck in Dembélé’s shadow in Real Madrid’s shapeless shambles | Club World Cup 2025

The first break of drinks was unexpected. It was six minutes ahead of the calendar, but Real Madrid was grateful for respite. They wandered on the touchline, dazed and confused, and reached the water bottles. They turned to Xabi Alonso and hoped for answers. After 24 minutes to have been struck by Paris Saint-Germain, however, the idea happened that the White players would better ask for salts.

It is never a good sign when the speech of the emergency team takes place with more than an hour. PSG had just burst into an advance of 3-0, Fabián Ruiz marking his second after an amazing combination between the exceptional Ousmane Dembélé and the Flying Achraf Hakimi on the right, and to be honest, the score felt with Madrid. New Jersey Sun was beating but PSG was ruthless. The guys are 33c. A chance to slow down?

Be careful again. It was the best team in the world by giving the most famous team in the world an all-powerful slap. Collectivism exceeded individualism during this demolition 4-0. PSG was delighted with suffering. They did not need to prove that there is life after Kylian Mbappé – they did it when they won the Champions League with a superb final performance against Inter – but they have always gone forward and highlighted the point with force, eloquence and not little radiance.

It is partly due to the structure implemented by Luis Enrique. However, mentality also happens. To say that PSG wanted this semi-final of the Club World Cup could seem reductive, but that does not make it wrong. It is a team underway of passengers. Dembélé now has 35 goals this season, but do not underestimate his work on the ball. No one remembers that the 28 -year -old has played like that for Barcelona. No one saw the French striker becoming the ultimate team player when his unhappy fate at Barça ended.

Luis Enrique transformed Dembélé. Madrid, on the other hand, joins people when they try to press. Alonso tries to introduce a system after replacing the most of Carlo Ancelotti, but it is not clear if a system can survive Mbappé. It was his first match against PSG since having left them under a cloud in 2024 and it did not go well. Doubts as to whether Madrid of Alonso will work properly with Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Vinícius Júnior in the same team persist. It should be noted that Madrid was more fluid with the young Gonzalo García leading the line while Mbappé recovered from a stomach bug. Vinícius and Bellingham both looked happier.

However, Mbappé was still going to come for his first start of the tournament here. In his head, the story demanded that he are beating his old side alone, but reality was more severe. He was hammered at home while Mbappé flowed inside and was preparing to shoot in the 38th minute, only for João Neves to leave it on the lawn with a cracking block.

Neves was not 21 years old before September. It is a wonderful and complex midfielder, but he plays with a rumble and the beauty of Luis Enrique is that the international of Portugal is not alone. Khvicha KVaratskhelia is another. Look at how the Georgian dispossessed Mbappé on the edge of the PSG zone and followed with a nutmeg on Arda Güler. There have also been many electrifying races to terrify Fede Valverde, who had the misfortune to fill in the right back with Trent Alexander-Arnold injured.

Madrid was a formless mess. The defense was in disorder, the midfielder a void. It was incredible how often PSG defenders were able to progress forward and play in feet. There was no resistance. Désiré Doué and Kvaratskhelia had so much space. Vittinha, Neves and Ruiz did what they liked in the middle. Madrid pays for their inability to replace Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, who made his last appearance of Madrid as a substitute before moving to Milan.

They no longer control these games. They are simply outdated and outdated. The easy line is that Madrid signed the bad French striker when they caught Mbappé and left Dembélé in Paris. However, PSG does not concern stars. Dembélé’s goal for 2-0 came because he forced Antonio Rüdiger to a comedy error in the ninth minute. He also put pressure on Ruiz’s first goal, taking advantage of a heavy touch from Raúl Asencio.

However, there is machine beauty without Remors of Luis Enrique. For the third goal, Dembélé fell deeply, the subtle movement as it stopped in space. He played an inverted pass in Hakimi, exceeding again beyond poor Fran García, and Ruiz did the rest after being found at the flying right of PSG.

It was so smooth. PSG retired in the second half, saving itself before facing Chelsea in the final on Sunday, which ultimately made it 4-0 after Bradley Barcola came to install Gonçalo Ramos to shoot in front of Thibaut Courtois. Look at what you left, Kylian. If only you were a little more like Dembélé.