PSG v Real Madrid: Club World Cup semi-final – live

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GOAL! PSG 3-0 Real Madrid (Ruiz 24)

Dembele flicks Hakimi into acres of space down the right. Hakimi rolls into the centre. Ruiz takes a touch to see off a flailing Valverde, sitting him down, then gives Courtois the eyes before skelping a shot into the bottom right! Glorious sweeping pitch-length move.

24 min: Mbappe reminds PSG that this isn’t over just yet, cutting in from the left and looking for the top right. His shot is deflected and the looper is an easy claim for Donnarumma. But then PSG counter, and …

23 min: Kvaratskhelia tries to release Ruiz into the box with a back-heel down the left. Not quite. But PSG are already dipping into their big box of tricks. That it’s come to this for Real Madrid with less than a quarter of the game gone.

21 min: Real show in attack for the first time in a good while, Vinicius Jr chasing a long pass down the left. It looks like he’ll get a shot away upon entering the box, but Mendes arrives from nowhere, making up all sorts of ground, and takes the ball off the striker’s toe as he’s preparing to shoot. Vinicius falls over, legs splayed, the latest Real player to lose the old dignity. What a sight this is.

20 min: Kvaratskhelia drives at Valverde down the left but is forced to turn tail. But there’s no panic, and he sends the ball towards Hakimi on the other flank. Hakimi advances and takes a diagonal shot towards the bottom-left corner. Just wide.

18 min: PSG are pinning Real back. Real can’t deal with their press at all. It feels like another PSG goal could arrive any time soon.

16 min: Bellingham is skittled by Hakimi out on the left. Guler sends the free kick into the mixer. Rudiger attempts to hoof goalwards and once again swipes at fresh air. As PSG clear, he ends up on his back, his legs kicking in the air. Not the most dignified few moments of Rudiger’s career.

14 min: Kvaratskhelia drops deep on the left before driving a pass down the channel intended to release Dembele. A bit too strong, and Courtois is able to come to the edge of his box and claim. Real are all over the shop.

12 min: Doue dribbles down the right and draws a clumsy foul from Fran Garcia. Vitinha delivers the free kick too flat, and Real are able to clear the ball, if not yet their heads. On the touchline, Xabi Alonso looks super-pained. A lot to think about already.

10 min: That’s the 35th goal of the season for Dembele. He’s got an assist today as well. But what on earth was Rudiger doing? The ball hit one foot while he was trying to clear with the other. Oh my.

GOAL! PSG 2-0 Real Madrid (Dembele 9)

Real implode in defence again! Rudiger takes a fresh-air swipe at a simple clearance. Dembele swans off with the ball, draws Courtois upon reaching the edge of the box, and whips across the keeper and into the bottom left! Wow.

8 min: A mere six minutes in, and already we can say that the goal had been coming! But Real aren’t taking that blow lying down, and they nearly equalise immediately, Vinicius Jr whipping a cross in from the right. Gonzalo Garcia can’t quite get to it, and the ball sails inches wide of the left-hand post.

GOAL! PSG 1-0 Real Madrid (Ruiz 6)

… but Courtois can’t stop everything. Asencio takes a heavy touch on the penalty spot. Dembele nicks away with it. He’s cleaned out by Courtois, but there’s no need to blow for a penalty, because Ruiz is right next to the incident, and when the ball breaks to him, he slots into the bottom left. What a start!

The ball breaks to Paris St Germain’s Fabian Ruiz … Photograph: Hannah McKay/ReutersAnd he slots the ball home … Photograph: Justin Setterfield/FIFA/Getty ImagesThen celebrates with teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Photograph: Cj Gunther/EPAShare

Updated at 21.35 CEST

5 min: Ruiz swans in from the right and curls hard towards the bottom left. Courtois extends fully to tip away. PSG come again down the right. Hakimi crosses low for Dembele, who must score, six yards out, but is somehow denied by the spreading Courtois. Real’s keeper with two huge saves. He’s already in 2022 Champions League final mode!

3 min: Kvaratskhelia cuts in from the left and lashes a shot into the side netting. A quick start by both teams.

2 min: Bellingham steals the ball out on the left touchline with a lovely trap and dragback. He flicks it infield, and Tchouameni attempts to thread a shot into the bottom left. It takes a deflection and it’s a corner. The set piece is a waste of time. Such a shame that piece of skill from Bellingham didn’t lead to something memorable.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Let’s get ready to rumble!” And with that battle cry, Real Madrid get the ball rolling.

At last … here come the players! One by one. PSG first, in their new blue shirts with red-lattice stripe that [squints] “pays tribute to Paris’s architectural heritage.” Then out come Real Madrid in white shirts that [narrows eyes again, adjusts pince-nez] “mark the Bernabéu’s latest refurbishment with a design featuring subtle shapes, textures and colours borrowed from its long and storied history … a performance-focused construction for quick-fire football with heat-applied club crest for unparalleled inspiration.” Soccer!

Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid players line up on the pitch. Photograph: Buda Mendes/Getty ImagesShare

Updated at 21.20 CEST

Kick-off delayed

Kick-off has been delayed until 3.10pm local time, 8.10pm UK time. That’s because both teams got caught in traffic on their way to the stadium from their Manhattan hotels, and rocked up 20 minutes later than expected. Real have had no luck whatsoever on their travels: their flight to NYC was delayed for three hours last night due to storms.

Updated at 20.49 CEST

DAZN ask Xabi Alonso about the absent Trent. “Yesterday in training he felt something … a small discomfort but not good enough to play today … for sure it is a blow … to deal with that is part of the job … we will miss him … we need to defend as a team, a unit … a good performance … a big challenge today … [Mbappé and Gonzalo Garcia] need to create in attack but also to commit in defence … we need to play as a unit when we have the ball and don’t have it … we are facing a good team so let’s see … we are ready … we are one step closer to the final and we want to make it … it’s a big one … a big challenge … [his brief period with his new players] has been intense and productive … build the basics of what we want for the next season.”

The winners of this semi-final will face Chelsea in Sunday’s final. For those of you who missed last night’s match, here’s what happened. João Pedro is what happened.

These clubs last met in 2022 in the Champions League. PSG looked like winning the round-of-16 tie, but threw away a two-goal aggregate lead in the second half of the second leg at the Bernabeu, Karim Benzema stunning them with a 16-minute hat-trick. At which point we all began to wonder whether PSG would ever win the trophy they craved more than any other. But here we are now. Three years is an awfully long time in football.

Here’s how the two teams made it through the quarters. A couple of games that got super-hectic towards the end.

Pre-match reading. A tale of blackmail and revenge, power and money, claim and counter-claim. The good doctor explains why all eyes will be on Kylian Mbappé this afternoon.

Updated at 20.11 CEST

PSG make two changes to their starting XI from the incident-packed quarter-final 2-0 win over Bayern Munich. Lucas Beraldo replaces the suspended Willian Pacho in defence, while Ousmane Dembélé takes the place up front of Bradley Barcola, who is benched.

Real Madrid also make two changes to their starting line-up, following their 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund. Raúl Asencio comes in for suspended defender Dean Huijsen, while Kylian Mbappé makes his first start of the tournament. Trent Alexander-Arnold is out injured.

The teams

Paris Saint-Germain: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Marquinhos, Lucas Beraldo, Vitinha, Neves, Fabian, Dembele, Doue, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: Safonov, Tenas, Kamara, Lee, Zaire Emery, Mayulu, Goncalo Ramos, Barcola, Mbaye.

Real Madrid: Courtois, Rudiger, Tchouameni, Asencio, Valverde, Francisco Garcia, Bellingham, Guler, Mbappe, Gonzalo Garcia, Vinicius Junior.
Subs: Lunin, Lucas, Carvajal, Eder Militao, Ramon, Lekhedim, Modric, Ceballos, Diaz, Camavinga, Martin, Andres, Rodrygo, Munoz.

Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland).

Preamble

Yes, there are issues with the newly expanded Club World Cup. And they have been, quite correctly, well documented. But you’re here. I’m here. Let’s all of us not pretend that, despite it all, a semi-final clash between the most entertaining team on the planet right now and a brand-new incarnation of the most prestigious club side in the world isn’t anything other than exciting. Enticing. Exotic. Erotic. It kicks off at 8pm UK time, 3pm in New Jersey. It’s on!

PSG v Real Madrid: Club World Cup semi-final – live | Club World Cup 2025