Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
CNN
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16 clashes with his former club – UEFA Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain, due to all the halabaloo and hype that Lionel Messi returned to Atlanta on Sunday – Inter Miami Maestro wasn’t just past or present players with connections with the French side.
PSG boss Luis Enrique was pleased to play against four or more players he once managed for Spanish giants Barcelona. Messi – of course – But Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquetz are all in the spotlight in a world where Argentine superstars have not yet played there. Javier Mascherano was his counterpart in Miami side job. He also played a pivotal role in his time at Barca’s treble in the 2014-15 season.
Fast forward from a few years to 2017, and the former Miami Balus Stars group played a notable role Reassembly For PSG, Parisian Somehow, they tried to throw away their 4-0 first-game lead in the tie round of the 16 Champions League, losing 6-1 in the return match.
What you say 16 rounds? The story was in the air everywhere you care about to see on Sunday. And, in the cool climate of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the idea of David Beckham, the co-owner of Inter Miami, who was at home despite recent surgery, should be a penny, or cent.
The iconic British football star ended his red and blue playing career at PSG and shed memorable tears shortly after he won the medals for England, Spain and the US, along with fourth different league winners when he called on the 1st in May 2013.
And this wasn’t a fleeting Darience, but as evident from the support of the 50-year-olds inside the Allianz Arena last month, it was a real sense of relationship as PSG finally won the first Champions League and destroyed Intermilan 5-0 in the process. Beckham, who soon became a knight, spent the night due to his age in Munich.
“To be honest, it’s a very emotional match for me,” Beckham told Atlanta’s TNT Sports/Dazn Pregame Show Show Show Show Show about his MLS team facing the last club he’s ever represented. “I only spent six months there and it felt like 16 years. It was a real family, a real special club owned by special people, run by special men.
With the knockout rounds continued at the newly expanded Club World Cup, could we create a case in which everyone would win on this last Sunday in June?
PSG was a huge favorite to move forward, but Intermiami became the only MLS team to advance from the group stage from the three-person condition, showing a talent dose halfway through the star name. A comfortable victory for the European giants, and does Inter Miami hold their collective heads high? Change the entire handshake, the jersey and try again in four years.
Who can you argue with? that story? Opta’s supercomputer considered PSG as PSG before the Club World Cup began in mid-June and stuck to the belief that headed for the 16th round. PSG has now reached a 20.6% chance of extending the trophy after running 10,000 simulations.
Certainly, even Messi and Beckham know one or two things about dragging a team through insurmountable situations, but they wouldn’t have said it on a straight face.
But football has the ability to make us look consistently “silly and stupid.” And perhaps the angle of revenge had to be taken into consideration. After trading Barcelona for Paris in 2021, Messi didn’t seem to enjoy himself in particular for two seasons in the French capital. Not once Until Sunday, they faced their former side with competitive equipment.
There’s been a lot to say about the irony of famous players like Messi, Killianm Bappe and Neymar. Landing the Champions League, the Holy Grail, fresh Dusile Dou, Joanne Neves and Bradley Barcola have repeatedly needed “OL ‘Big Ears.”
Ultimately, these jersey swaps could have been made at half-time whistles, with European champions coming out to the clinic and competing thanks to Joan Neves’ braces.
The game was theoretically balanced at 2-0, with minutes in the first half, but dramatically doubled before the 65,574 attending took their breath.
The second 45 minutes felt like an exhibition. PSG took his feet off the gas and almost provoked his opponents and headed out. And sometimes it felt like the whole stadium – and it seemed like a more partisan crowd of Intermiami (or perhaps Promessi) – hoping to score. And he was willing to accept the assignment.
A shot blocked here, some shots saved by Gianluigi donnarumma, if surrounded by the net, is a tense free kick to the wall of the PSG, from the header that may have caused the loudest cheers in the history of this stadium. But when the side, sitting sixth in the MLS Eastern Conference, scored the best team in Europe, Messi’s eight Barons rely nothing on.
“There’s a big lesson to learn from here,” Intermiami coach Mascherano said it could have been the tournament’s biggest understatement. PSG coach Enrique declared, “It was an almost perfect match, we created many opportunities.”
After the match, speaking with reporters, including CNN Sports, PSG star Osmane Dembele admitted he was “very happy” to meet Messi and was “pleasant” to meet him.
It’s clear that the player still respects him, but the question must be asked. The World Cup is round the corner, but at a moment, he’s wearing his boots.
For PSG, whose players hang medals rather than boots, a stunning return to the stadium on Saturday is awaited, with the winner of the Champions League facing German Giants Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. It’s a real big hit, but things like Messi and Beckham become the audience, not the main character.
“It’s okay…it’s all good,” said Beckham, who glittered about his surgery just before kickoff. However, as a second opinion, he may have mentioned the outcome of this match.
