The bid of Paris Saint-Germain to add the FIFA Club World Cup title to their fancy four trophies this season started with a 4-0 win over 10-man Atletico Madrid in group B in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, in what a competition debut was for both sides.
A Julian Alvarez Free-Kick curls a mustache hair wide from Gianluigi Donnarummas three minutes was an early warning sign for the European champions, which first forced Jan Oblak to take action in the 17th minute, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia took the ball and in turn.
The Slovenian keeper was the same, but two minutes later he had no answer to Fabian Ruiz, who received a resignation from Kvaratskhelia and bore the ball in the bottom corner.
After the opening goal, PSG began to dominate in terms of possession, although neither of the parties was able to show more than flashes of sparkle while they were struggling in the Californian heat.
After he was forced to lean back, Athleti almost forced an equalizer when Antoine Griezmann made a clean chance of Donnarumma, only for Les Parisiens to go straight the other side and double their lead.
Kvaratskhelia was again the provider, this time for Vitinha, who was given time and space to glide in the middle of the penalty area and to accompany a shot past Oblak.
Match Statsopta by Statspleform
The attacking game that Luis Enrique symbolized this season could be seen again early in the second half – Nuno Mendes drove through the heart of the Atletico defense and founded Kvaratskhelia, whose curly stroke on the crossbar was tipped by Oblak.
After he had stayed in the game, Los Colchoneros thought they were back at a moving distance when Alvarez drilled the ball past Donnarumma, only for the goal of being rejected by VAR for an error in the structure of Koke.
The hope of an Athleti -Vechtback was given a huge blow 11 minutes of time, after Clement Lenglet had made an exception to referee Istvan Kovacs who did not punish Senny Mayulu for charging Oblak's attempt to roll out. Kovacs decided that Lenglet's protests earned a second yellow card and the side of Diego Simeone was up to 10 men.
That did not stop that the Spanish side made their best chance in the following minutes, although that was only with the effect of Alexander Sorloth that flared from four meters.
However, PSG eventually got the third goal that their performance deserved athleti did not succeed in erasing a dangerous Achraf Hakimi ball, and eventually Mayulu chose the bottom corner to establish a first competitive head-to-head victory for the French club, because Simeone was defeated by Enrique for the 10th time.
In extra time, VAR saw a handball from Robin le Normand in the area, and a terrible evening before Atleti was exacerbated by Lee Kang-in the resulting penalty to bring the score to 4-0.
If the Parisians were not favorites before this tournament, they will be in the eyes of some followers, after they have passed on their heaviest group test on paper with flag and pennant.
Flash score Man of the match: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Paris Saint-Germain)