Lionel Messi’s reunion with Paris Saint-Germain quickly descended into a humiliating rout on Sunday as his Inter Miami side conceded four goals before half time.
Miami, who were given a special invite to the Club World Cup by FIFA after winning Major League Soccer’s Supporters’ Shield earlier this year, had made an impressive start to the tournament in the United States.
Messi and Co qualified from Group A without losing once. They drew 0-0 with Al Ahly before beating Porto 2-1. Miami then played out a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras.
That draw against Palmeiras saw Miami made a brilliant start by taking a 2-0 lead.
However, they made a terrible start against the champions of Europe in Sunday’s round of 16 contest.
There was just six minutes on the clock when Joao Neves opened the scoring.
Miami then managed to hold out until the 39th minute when Neves doubled his tally.
That appeared to open the floodgates, with Tomas Aviles scoring a own goal moments later before Achraf Hakimi added a fourth in first-half added time.
Messi looked exasperated as the goals continued to flow.
The 38-year-old, who spent two seasons with PSG between 2021 and 2023, touched the ball just 14 times in the first half, with many of those coming from kick-offs.
Messi’s former Barcelona co-stars, 37-year-old Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets, 36, also endured a torrid time.
With Messi struggling on the world stage, he unsurprisingly became a trending topic on X (formerly Twitter).
One negative comment read: ‘Messi once again proving that he can’t do it outside of Barcelona and Argentina, I genuinely respect Ronaldo so much cause he did it with different clubs and countries. My goat.’
There were also countless memes posted gleefully taunting Messi. One depicted him as a lone lion surrounded by a pack of hyenas.
But another comment read: ‘You’re a sick man if you’re enjoying this Messi downfall’.
Another fan jumped to his defence, adding: ‘I see a lot of people laughing at Messi right now. But let’s get one thing straight. Messi has nothing left to prove.
‘He’s achieved everything and I mean EVERYTHING there is to achieve in football.’
The widespread criticism of Messi was a little harsh, considering the relative standard of the opposition and his team-mates.
Speaking before kick-off, Inter Miami president David Beckham had described PSG as ‘probably the best team in the world right now’.
