Gareth Bale Offers Major Praise of PSG After Crushing Real Madrid in Club World Cup Semifinal

Gareth Bale Offers Major Praise of PSG After Crushing Real Madrid in Club World Cup Semifinal
Gareth Bale Offers Major Praise of PSG After Crushing Real Madrid in Club World Cup Semifinal

PSG put on a clinic Wednesday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, cruising to a 4-0 win over Real Madrid to punch their ticket to Sunday’s 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final against Chelsea. The French champions came flying out of the gate, scoring three times in the opening half hour and never giving Real Madrid a chance to recover.

The opener came after a costly miscue from Raúl Asencio. Ousmane Dembele pressured the back line and forced a save out of Thibaut Courtois, but Fabián Ruiz was first to the rebound and calmly slotted it home with his left foot.

Minutes later, PSG doubled the lead. Antonio Rüdiger, under pressure from Dembele near his own box, lost possession. Dembele took full advantage, driving into the area and beating Courtois with a composed left-footed finish.

Right before the break, PSG added a third. Achraf Hakimi charged down the right flank and found Ruiz, who brushed off Federico Valverde and finished confidently for his second of the day.

PSG capped the rout late on. Hakimi broke free again on the right and picked out Bradley Barcola in the box. Barcola laid it off to Gonçalo Ramos, who spun and fired past Courtois to seal an emphatic win.

What Gareth Bale said about PSG’s win over Real Madrid

Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Former Real Madrid star Gareth Bale appeared on ESPN FC and praised PSG’s performance against the Spanish side.

“The fact that they haven’t got a superstar—of course, there are players who are now playing better, like Dembélé, who is the standout player this season for them—but they don’t have those superstar players,” Bale said. “They really do play as a team. Whether Dembélé is out or not, someone else will come in and do just the same job.

“So I feel like they’re not reliant on anybody in particular. And I think they do have a great squad, and they seem to all be going in one direction and doing that same thing. They’re all on the same path. The manager’s got them all working the press, all working extremely hard. And I know everyone says that we made mistakes, but they also made Real Madrid make mistakes [on Wednesday], which led to the goals.”

The capital club will now look to add another trophy as they face another Premier League club. PSG have faced Manchester City, Aston Villa, Arsenal, and Liverpool in 2025, with Chelsea now their next opposition from England’s top flight.

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