{"id":201352,"date":"2025-06-21T01:53:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T01:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201352\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T01:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T01:53:15","slug":"paris-saint-germain-0-botafogo-1-are-europes-struggles-good-for-the-club-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201352\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Saint-Germain 0 Botafogo 1: Are Europe\u2019s struggles good for the Club World Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of Bayern Munich vs. Boca Juniors<\/a> at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.<\/a><\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s teams lost twice in one day at the Club World Cup as Botafogo shocked Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain to take control of Group B.<\/p>\n

The Copa Libertadores holders took a first-half lead when Marlon Freitas released Igor Jesus, who got the better of PSG centre-backs Willian Pacho and Lucas Beraldo before getting a shot away that deflected off Pacho and past Gianluigi Donnarumma.<\/p>\n

Early in the second half, Botafogo goalkeeper John blocked a close-range header from Goncalo Ramos and Luis Enrique sent on Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola, Nuno Mendes and Fabian Ruiz as the start of a series of substitutions to try and find an equaliser but the John Textor-owned team from Brazil<\/a> held on to beat his rival Nasser Al-Khelaifi\u2019s Qatar-backed PSG.<\/p>\n

Botafogo\u2019s win at a raucous Rose Bowl in Pasadena leaves them three points clear at the top of Group B with four of the eight pools now led by teams from South America.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Jack Lang, Jordan Campbell and Austin Green analyse the game\u2019s key talking points.<\/p>\n

Are two European defeats in one day good for the competition?<\/p>\n

For the first six days of the tournament it did not happen, but then two European teams lost in the space of eight hours.<\/p>\n

It is a healthy development for the competition as there were fears the gulf between Europe and the other continents would be so pronounced that the group stage was uncompetitive.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami beating Porto was the first real dent in the idea of Europe invincibility but Botafogo beating the Champions League winners was the sort of upset that can change the dynamics of a tournament.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian side defended resolutely and were able to regularly counter the French champions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Textor celebrates with John (Photo: Alex Pantling \u2013 FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

European sides have found it difficult to cope with the speed of PSG\u2019s moves but Botafogo matched them physically for most of the game.<\/p>\n

South American teams have now won five, drawn three and lost none of their games against opposition from other continents.<\/p>\n

The conditions may be more natural to some of the South American sides, who are also mid-season, but the European sides are finding that this is not the walkover they may have been expecting.<\/p>\n

Jordan Campbell<\/p>\n

Is this what we should expect from Igor Jesus?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bPacho and Beraldo seemed to have the situation well under control. Botafogo had nicked the ball in midfield but the PSG centre backs were well placed. There was a gap between them, but it was no more than three metres. No one was going to get through that.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Then along came Igor Jesus.<\/p>\n

The Botafogo striker is not one of those subtle strikers. He doesn\u2019t paint pictures with his feet. He can look ungainly, imprecise. Tell him to run onto something, though, and he\u2019ll do it all day, then come back the morning after and ask for more.<\/p>\n

He saw the gap, laughed at it, barrelled into it like a wild horse. The pass came from Jefferson Savarino, as he knew it would. From there, it was just about maintaining the momentum. A second and a couple of touches later, the ball was in the net and Igor Jesus was in the crowd, being smothered in hugs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Igor Jesus scores after breaking through on goal (Photo: YURI CORTEZ \/ AFP) (Photo by YURI CORTEZ\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a funny 12 months for the 24-year-old. Not so long ago, he was leading the line for Brazil, the main individual beneficiary of Botafogo\u2019s all-conquering 2024 season. He has found the going much harder since the turn of the year. It was, in truth, a slight surprise when Nottingham Forest agreed to make a Premier League player of him in June.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here, though, he showed his true potential. This may be his goodbye tour, but there is still a chance for him to make a few more memories in black and white yet.<\/p>\n

Jack Lang<\/p>\n

Did Luis Enrique pick the wrong team?<\/b><\/p>\n

For PSG\u2019s first match of this tournament against a non-European side, Luis Enrique opted to rest several of his usual first-choice starters.<\/p>\n

Ramos started at centre-forward for the injured Ousmane Dembele. Senny Mayulu and Warren Zaire-Emery flanked Vitinha in the midfield. Lucas Hernandez and Beraldo started on the back line over Mendes and Marquinhos.<\/p>\n

The results were mixed. PSG dominated possession but struggled to finish chances. They largely went away from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after the winger created two superb opportunities for himself in the opening 15 minutes. Ramos was largely anonymous and missed a chance for a tap-in because he failed to make a run at a Desire Doue cross in the first half. Beraldo and Pacho had their moments in central defence but were responsible for Igor Jesus\u2019 goal.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long after half-time \u2014 and another superb Botafogo chance on the counter \u2014 for Luis Enrique to determine he had seen enough. In came Barcola, Ruiz, Neves and Mendes in the 55th minute.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PSG struggled before Luis Enriques changes (Photo:Alex Pantling \u2013 FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The result was a livelier, more balanced PSG attack and one that negated Botafogo\u2019s counterattacking. But it was too little, too late. It\u2019s not just that PSG didn\u2019t find an equalizer, they barely had a quality chance until late in the second half. Credit Botafogo for superb positioning as the Brazilian side\u2019s back line grew more comfortable as the game went on.<\/p>\n

But given those early chances and PSG\u2019s early-scoring prowess in the Champions League, it\u2019s hard not to second-guess Luis Enrique\u2019s decision to rest so many first-choice players and not press for an early goal to then allow for earlier-than-usual substitutions.<\/p>\n

Austin Green<\/p>\n

What next for PSG?<\/p>\n

Monday, June <\/strong>23:<\/strong> Seattle Sounders, Club World Cup group stage (Seattle), 3pm ET, 8pm UK<\/p>\n

What next for Botafogo?<\/p>\n

Monday, June <\/strong>23:<\/strong> Atletico Madrid, Club World Cup group stage (Pasadena), 3pm ET, 8pm UK<\/p>\n

You can\u00a0sign up to DAZN<\/a>\u00a0to watch every FIFA Club World Cup game free.<\/p>\n

(Photo: YURI CORTEZ\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of Bayern Munich vs. Boca Juniors at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2106,2000,299,5187,16665,55985,7068,6544,101,10031],"class_list":{"0":"post-201352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-fifa-club-world-cup","13":"tag-international-football","14":"tag-ligue-1","15":"tag-paris-saint-germain","16":"tag-premier-league","17":"tag-soccer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114718861346242603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}