Seattle (AFP) – Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Achraf Hakimi scored either side of half-time as European champions Paris Saint-Germain eased to a 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders on Monday to secure their place in the last 16 of the Club World Cup. PSG needed to bounce back from their 1-0 loss at the hands of Botafogo in their last Group B outing and they were too strong for the MLS side without ever really playing to their full potential.
Kvaratskhelia deflected a wayward Vitinha shot into the net to open the scoring on 35 minutes in front of 50,628 fans at Lumen Field, Sounders’ home stadium. Hakimi then made it 2-0 just before the midway point in the second half to kill off any prospect of a comeback by the hosts. PSG are through and advance as group winners on goal difference, climbing up from second place because of Botafogo’s late defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid at the same time in Pasadena.
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The French champions will now go through to a tie against the Group A runners-up in Atlanta on Sunday, as they leave the west coast for the first time since arriving in the United States. “It wasn’t easy because the pitch was very different to what we are used to in Europe so we couldn’t play with the fluidity that we like, but we adapted,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique. He complained that the ball “bounced around like a rabbit” but also praised the opposition for their performance. “It was a great match, difficult for us, tough from the beginning because Seattle played a great match, with intensity and quality on and off the ball,” said the Spaniard.
Dembele again absent – The Paris coach made four changes to his line-up following the defeat at the hands of Botafogo, with captain Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Fabian Ruiz, and Joao Neves all coming in. However, Ousmane Dembele, their top scorer during the European season just finished with 33 goals in all competitions, played no part for a third game running after travelling to the tournament with an injury.
The Sounders needed a big win combined with a defeat for Atletico to progress to the last 16, something which was always going to be a big ask for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League winners. They didn’t have the quality to overly trouble PSG, who saw Desire Doue threaten early on with a powerful shot that was tipped over by home goalkeeper Stefan Frei. A mistake by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma at the other end gifted a chance to the home side, but it was not an easy one for Jesus Ferreira and he fired off-target.
The UEFA Champions League winners got the opening goal 10 minutes before the interval when the ball came out to Vitinha on the edge of the area and his attempt took a rather lucky touch off the back of Kvaratskhelia to find the net. The second goal arrived on 66 minutes after Doue played a delightful pass out to the wing for Bradley Barcola and the substitute cut in from the left before setting up Hakimi to control and slot in his 10th goal since the season began.
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