Lionel Messi may have dreamed of rewriting an unfinished chapter against his former club, but Paris Saint-Germain ensured that it would not reach the end of the fairy tale. In the wet 29th June at the Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta, Messi’s Inter Miami was dismantled by 4-0 ruling European Champions in the World Cup FIFA 16-Remaining Reminders of the Gap between Major League football and top European football.
For Messi it was more than a knockout game. It was a return in the face of a club that once promised so much, but gave so little – and again the chance to give the chapter to rest. But PSG, led by Luis Enrique, arrived in Atlanta not with sentiment, but with the goal. From the first whistle, every blade of grass was visible. And it took only six minutes to feel PSG.
Dominant performance of ruling European champions. #Fifacwc– World Cup FIFA Club (@FIFACWC) 29. June 2025
Joao Neves, rising unmarked inside the box, headed in an outstanding free kick from Vitinhy-Portugal midfielder dictating rhythm and flow like a metronome in the center of PSG. It was a goal born of accuracy and patience, two features of Inter Miami lacked most of the night.
Despite the fact that the Legend – Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba – Inter Miami has hardly been able to combine any cohesive offensive threat. Their defensive strategy was seriously relying on the bodies behind the ball, with almost every pink shirt was camping inside their own half. But the pressure was relentless.
Just before the half -life of PSG, he found his second – again through Neveves – this time after Fabian Ruiz danced around the Miami line and imitated it on the other hand for the Portuguese midfielder imitated it into an empty net. The third came a moment later when Thomas Avils turned his own goal under pressure from Bradley Barcola. And at a time when Acharaf Hakimi broke home fourth, the competition turned into a training exercise for Parisians.
Where was Messi in all this? Isolated. Drifting. Waiting. A lonely figure forward, too often without service and rarely in the rhythm of the game. Suarez, now 36, looked tired and tried to cover the ground. Busquets appeared one step out of the pace. The albums of the usual side rupture were missing. And from the excavation, Javier Mascherano – Inter Miami Coach – like a man who is still learning, may have even admired a plan through a touchline from his former coach.
On Inter Miami’s credit, PSG held the bay in the second half, but only because the French side seemed to step out of the gas. The urgency disappeared, replaced by a number of exercises in possession. Even then Messi carved rare moments-including one free kick attempt with a trademark of 30 yards in dying minutes. The wall hit it.
And with that the curtain closed the Messi’s Club World Cup campaign. No goals, no drama, just a humiliating defeat that has left more questions than answers. For Inter Miami, the night served as a control of reality – that the journey from American ambition to European caliber is long and steep. And for Messi, maybe quiet lessons: some past should not be rewritten.
– ends
Published:
Debodinna Chakracorty
Published on:
29. June 2025
