Best year ever? PSG can cap dream season with Club World Cup win vs. Chelsea

USA Today

17 hours ago

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — There's only one more trophy left to be raised by Paris Saint-Germain.
They've won the French league, the French Cup, the French Super Cup and the club's first-ever UEFA Champions League title in late May.
And they hope to cap off one of the most historic seasons in the sport's history with a victory against English side Chelsea in the FIFA Club World Cup final on Sunday, July 13, at MetLife Stadium.
'We really want to make history, and we're hungry for a win,' PSG's Brazilian captain Marquinhos said.
You ask most players and coaches at the FIFA Club World Cup about PSG, and they seem to all agree: The Parisians are the best soccer team in the world.
They're a convincing favorite (-165) to win the final against Chelsea (+400), according to BETMGM, for good reason.
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Watching them work is truly a spectacle for the sport. They thrive off pressuring the opposing team, then attack with quick thinking and decisive passes in harmony.
Mind you, this was a club that featured Argentine World Cup champion Lionel Messi, French World Cup champion Kylian Mbappé and Brazilian star Neymar just two years ago.
And now, they're somehow playing better without them.
'Right now, they're the best team in the world — without a doubt,' Messi said after losing 4-0 against his former club with Major League Soccer's Inter Miami in the round of 16 on June 29.
This PSG group has its fair share of unheralded stars who will surely be recognized more after their Champions League win, and if they secure the Club World Cup title.
Ousmane Dembélé, who played at Barcelona with Messi, is the favorite to win the Ballon d'Or — the highest individual honor in the sport. Désiré Doué is also rising French star, and Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi both shined during their Champions League run. Fabián Ruiz, who helped Spain win Euro 2024 last summer, had two goals against Real Madrid in the Club World Cup semifinal.
PSG often start matches by just kicking the ball out of bounds like a NFL punter, immediately applying pressure on their opponent. Dembélé leads the charge defensively so he can make an immediate offensive impact. It causes some to fluster, like Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois did, when PSG routed them 4-0 in their July 9 semifinal.
'I told [Dembélé] after the game that he was pressing a lot, and he told me that's what he had to do,' Courtois told reporters after the semifinal. 'On a clearance, I have half a second to think about where I'm going to shoot, because they're pressing you.'
Added Marquinhos: 'We have a very offensive gameplan. We always want to have ball possession. If we do not have ball possession, we will not negotiate.'
Luis Enrique has been the architect of PSG's season — 10 years after leading Messi and Barcelona to a Champions League title.
Enrique has inspired PSG's style, awake even further after they dropped a 1-0 match in the group stage to Brazilian side Botafogo in the tournament. It's the only goal they've conceded at the Club World Cup.
His players have simply bought into his philosophy. And the success shows.
'A team with 11 stars, that's the goal. We don't want just one — we want 11. That's what we have right now. And I wouldn't say 11, I'd say 13, 14, 15. That's our goal,' Enrique said. 'I think it's a commitment we made from the sporting director's office, the president and myself, to seek 11 or 15 stars and for the real star to be the team, something our fans have identified with… It's the whole team.'
Enrique knows PSG could face defeat in the Club World Cup final — or any of the matches that follow them into next season.
Still, he wants to cap off this season with another victory and another trophy.
'Best season in my career? Maybe,' Enrique said. 'But we need to win Sunday's game to put icing on the cake.'