Monday, July 7

Sports Mole previews Wednesday's Club World Cup clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

The Club World Cup will throw up another all-European heavyweight tie on Wednesday night, when Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid go head-to-head in the second semi-final in New Jersey.

Both clubs saw off German giants in the quarter-finals to get this far, as the winners of the previous two Champions Leagues face off for a place in the final against either Chelsea or Fluminense.

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Match preview

Since slipping up against Botafogo in the group stages, PSG have been perfect in all three matches on their way to the semi-finals, and they continued that by overcoming their biggest obstacle yet - beating Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Despite being reduced to nine men in the latter stages, Luis Enrique’s men were still able to add a second goal to seal a 2-0 success over the Bundesliga champions, which was a third successive win accompanied by a clean sheet.

PSG’s first game at the competition came against a team from Madrid, and ahead of this clash against Real, a repeat of the performance they put in against Atletico Madrid on matchday one would go down a treat, when the Parisians thumped Diego Simeone’s men 4-0.

The French juggernauts are no stranger to big wins, as their 5-0 Champions League final win over Inter Milan showed, and they are continuing a phenomenal season which has now seen them score 164 goals across all competitions.

Manager Enrique won this competition with Barcelona back in 2015, and ahead of the semi-finals, his current PSG side are the favourites to do so as well, exactly a decade on from that success.

Standing in their way on Wednesday will be a club that have often had their number in big Champions League encounters over the past decade, especially in 2022, when Real Madrid came from 2-0 down on aggregate to knock PSG out in the last 16.

It is all change at Real Madrid now though, with Xabi Alonso coming in to replace Carlo Ancelotti, but there has been no drop off in results by any means, as Los Blancos are still unbeaten at the tournament.

Apart from a slightly underwhelming draw with Al Hilal on matchday one, Real have won all of their other four matches at the Club World Cup, topping their group thanks to wins over Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg.

That put Real on the tougher side of the draw, but they have had enough to see off Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, despite suffering a huge scare in the latter.

Saturday’s quarter-final with Dortmund looked like ending in a routine win for Alonso’s men, leading 2-0 heading into injury time, and it also looked safe after Kylian Mbappe’s overhead kick quickly cancelled out Maximilian Beier’s strike that briefly brought BVB back into it.

However, Dean Huijsen’s professional foul in the area saw him sent off, and allowed Serhou Guirassy to reduce the arrears again, before Marcel Sabitzer was denied by a superb Thibaut Courtois save on 99 minutes that would have forced extra time.

That has shown this Real Madrid team can be got at, and they will face an even sterner challenge here against the European champions.

Paris Saint-Germain Club World Cup form:

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Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):

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Real Madrid Club World Cup form:

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Real Madrid form (all competitions):

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Team News

After both being sent off in the closing stages of their win over Bayern, PSG will be without both Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez for the semi-final, so Lucas Beraldo is set to come in at the centre of defence.

Ousmane Dembele is the only other player from their regular starting XI who could also miss out, even though he has made two substitute appearances in the knockout stage after a brief injury setback.

Achraf Hakimi is the man to watch, as the former Real Madrid full-back has either scored or assisted in each of his last three Club World Cup matches, adding an assist against Bayern after scoring in the two games prior.

Real Madrid will also be without an important centre-back following a quarter-final red card, as new signing Huijsen will be missing after his late dismissal against Dortmund over the weekend.

That should see Raul Asencio make his first start since being sent off himself inside 10 minutes against Pachuca in the group stages, even though Eder Militao is back from an ACL injury.

Alonso’s bench against Dortmund was full of attacking talent such as Mbappe, Rodrygo and Brahim Diaz, but all eyes will be on breakout star Gonzalo Garcia, who has now scored four goals at the competition.

Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Lucas Beraldo, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz; Barcola, Doue, Kvaratskhelia

Real Madrid possible starting lineup:

Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Rudiger, Asencio, F Garcia; Tchouameni, Bellingham, Valverde; Guler, G Garcia, Vinicius Junior

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We say: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Real Madrid

 

In what promises to be one of the games of the tournament, PSG are unsurprisingly the slight favourites, given the astonishing 2025 they have enjoyed, and the fact Real are still a work in progress, despite their promising start under Alonso.

Clean sheets are not the strong point of either team, so goals should be in store, but PSG’s unity and familiarity could just get them over the line, against a Los Blancos side that are still gelling together with some new additions.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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