Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) easily eliminated Inter Miami and old friend Lionel Messi from the FIFA Club World Cup, outclassing the Herons 4-0 in the Round of 16 on Sunday.
Joao Neves potted two goals before a Miami own goal and a strike by Achraf Hakimi bloated the margin to four by halftime. The European champions will face the winner between Bayern Munich and Flamengo in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Oscar Ustari recorded six saves for Inter Miami, while PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma had to make just three after Miami was held without a shot attempt for the first 50 minutes. The match was Messi’s first time facing PSG since leaving the club and coming to America two years ago.
Desire Doue won PSG a free kick just outside the penalty area less than five minutes into the match. Vitinha took the kick and connected with Neves, who headed it on the run across Ustari’s body and into the net.
Miami defender Noah Allen took a tumble and subbed out due to injury in the 19th minute. His replacement, Tomas Aviles, immediately earned a yellow card by tripping up Nuno Mendes.
PSG continued to control play until Neves doubled the advantage in the 39th minute. Fabian Ruiz dispossessed Sergio Busquets, and a quick passing sequence freed up Neves for an open shot from the center of the box.
Aviles’ unfortunate match continued when he accidentally chested a PSG cross over his own goal line in the 44th minute.
Moments later, PSG’s Bradley Barcola made a perfect run to receive a pass deep in the box, and he passed it back to Hakimi. His first shot ricocheted off Ustari’s head and the crossbar, but Hakimi scored his own rebound for a 4-0 advantage.
After a quiet first half, Messi was credited with Miami’s first shot attempt in the 51st minute when he had a left-footer deflected over the net.
Chelsea advance: Chelsea beat Benfica in a game which went on for close to five hours to set up a quarter-final showdown with Brazilian side Palmeiras at the tournament in the US.
The London club were grateful to extra-time goals by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to give them a 4-1 victory over Benfica.
Their late burst of scoring settled a last-16 tie which took four hours, 39 minutes to complete at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina after a near two-hour weather delay.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was left satisfied with his team’s victory but slammed the delay that turned the tie into a near five-hour marathon.
“I think it’s a joke, it’s not football,” Maresca said.
“For 85 minutes we were in control of the game. We created enough chances to win the game. Then after the break, the game changed — for me personally, it’s not football.”
Earlier, Chelsea had been seemingly poised for victory after Reece James’ opportunistic second-half free-kick had left them 1-0 up with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
But just as Chelsea began to think about their quarter-final assignment, the arrival of a storm over Charlotte triggered local safety protocols which required the game to be halted.
It marked the sixth occasion during the Club World Cup that a game has been disrupted by a weather warning.
When play resumed just under two hours later, a revitalised Benfica grabbed an injury-time equaliser after Chelsea substitute Malo Gusto was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area following an intervention by the Video Assistant Referee.
Benfica’s Argentine veteran Angel Di Maria stepped up to roll in an ice-cold penalty, sending the game into extra time.
An end-to-end first half of extra time saw Benfica, reduced to 10 men following Gianluca Prestianni’s second yellow card at the end of regulation, threaten to take the lead as they chased an improbable victory.
But instead it was Nkunku who fired Chelsea back in front, the French international bundling in from close range after Moises Caicedo’s low shot squirted underneath Benfica goalkeeper Antoliy Trubin.
As the game opened up, Benfica were increasingly vulnerable on the counter-attack and Chelsea pounced.
Neto made it 3-1 with a nerveless finish after going clean through on goal in the 114th minute, and three minutes later Dewsbury-Hall completed the rout to send Chelsea through to the last eight.
Agencies
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