PSG vs. Inter Miami: Can Messi Knock Out His Former Club? | OneFootball

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The FIFA Club World Cup knockout round will kick off on Saturday, featuring a host of mouth-watering matchups. Palmeiras and Botafogo will kick off proceedings with an all-Brazilian clash in Philadelphia. Chelsea captain Enzo Fernandez will face off against his former club, Benfica, in Charlotte, while Al-Hilal’s Joao Cancelo will meet his former side, Manchester City, in Orlando. German heavyweights Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will take on Flamengo and Monterrey, respectively, Fluminense will compete against Inter, whilst Juventus and Real Madrid will face off in Miami in a rematch of the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. However, the hottest ticket in town will be in Atlanta, Georgia, as Paris Saint-Germain takes on Inter Miami.

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PSG entered the FIFA Club World Cup in red-hot form following a sensational season that saw them win four trophies—including a first-ever Champions League trophy—but as for Inter Miami, they found themselves approaching crisis mode. After a superb two years which saw them win the Leagues Cup and finish with the best regular season record in MLS history, Miami suffered a dismal start to the Javier Mascherano era, losing five and drawing two of their final nine fixtures prior to the tournament and being knocked out of the Concacaf Champions Cup by Vancouver Whitecaps.

“Miami are victims of their own success,” stated MLS veteran and ex-USMNT international Jimmy Conrad. “They’ve had success, of course, but they are kind of victims of their philosophy, because they’re trying to be the Galácticos of MLS in some ways. And there’s a sacrifice when you have a salary-capped league, there’s a sacrifice to that philosophy. You can go out and get the biggest names, you can get Lionel Messi who’s been tremendous, and you can get all of his buddies, too. But then, something’s gonna give. If this wasn’t a salary-capped league, then I think that that could probably work, and they could go out and get big names defensively. But right now there’s a distinction.”

However, it seems that Miami has managed to find its footing in recent weeks, closing out the month of May with a 4-2 win vs. Montréal and a 5-1 thrashing of Columbus Crew, before taking on Al Ahly in the first match of the FIFA Club World Cup. Thanks to a combination of wasteful finishing from the Egyptian giants as well as a Man of the Match display from Óscar Ustari, who saved eight shots (including a penalty), Miami prevailed with a 0-0 draw, ending a run of 10 straight matches without a clean sheet. Then, they headed to Atlanta, where, after conceding an early penalty goal to Porto’s Samu Aghehowa, they roared back to a 2-1 victory thanks to second-half goals from Telasco Segovia and Lionel Messi.

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