The World Stage

Off to the United States for the first 32-team Club World Cup. The draw has handed PSG the hardest possible path, but this team backs down from nothing.

Messi's Inter Miami are swept aside without reply. In the quarter-final, against Bayern Munich, the unthinkable happens.

Pacho and Lucas Hernández are sent off, and PSG are reduced to nine against eleven. But this team refuses to fold. Doué and Dembélé find the net, and Paris win 2-0 in conditions nobody saw coming.

In the semi-final, the much-anticipated clash: Real Madrid. The first meeting with Mbappé since his departure.

4-0. The defeat is a humiliation, and Mbappé is powerless against the system that replaced him. The collective spoke louder than any trace of individual brilliance.

In the final, exhaustion catches up with PSG. The draw had been ruthless: Inter Miami, Bayern Munich while down to nine, Real Madrid. On the other side of the bracket, Chelsea had a far less demanding run. Without Pacho, physically drained after three legendary matches, PSG cannot compete.

It is the only trophy this legendary team will not lift. The bitterness is real, but so is the pride. Beating Messi, Mbappé and Bayern while down to nine in the same tournament, nobody had done it before; nobody will do it again any time soon.