PSG 4-0 Real Madrid Club World Cup Semifinal Post-Match LIVE! with Rory Smith: Men in Blazers 07/09/25

0:00It's Rog, here to sing my praise for a very special New Balance football boot, the 442. It's no-nonsense, workhorse midfielders and defenders, the ones who do the dirty work, but also ping a pass to perfection. It's a classic boot design with modern enhancements, with an ultra-lightweight sole, synthetic microfibre material, retains a soft premium in-hand feel, allowing for the lighter weight, the superior touch on the ball. Get a pair for yourself or the footballer in your family at newbalance.com slash soccer. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio.

0:46Live from the Michelob Ultra House in New York City, it's Ultra House 2, Electric Boogaloo! How you doing, New York City? i'm rods this is raw we're here to revel in the heat of new york 2025 champions of europe against your perpetual title winners real madrid and it ended in a beat down 4-0 raw a beat down so comprehensive the referee blew the whistle in 90 minutes the ultimate act of mercy that is the referee saying you've suffered enough let's all just go home we know who's better now and the ultimate act of shame club world cup in america it's only fitting that two former clubs both made great by mariccio pochettino are in the finals of that tournament right that's a interesting interpretation of history i would say you can't argue i don't want to speak down i don't want to talk poch down what are the odds that poch has got two great teams to the final and one of them isn't Spurs.

1:47I don't know what's with that. But here's how today's going to go down. We're going to break the game down quickly. We're going to take your questions. We have microphones with our producers. Come and ask the best questions you can about this game, about the extent to which Chelsea are no doubt crapping the bed right now. But I want to begin by raising my third first Michelob Ultra of the day to being here in this house made of beer. Breaking news, we'll be back on Friday night we live here now for a special preview of the Club World Cup final with two guests the great chef, restaurateur Bon Vivre Marcus Samuelsen and the greatest legend of American football Mr Clint Dempsey will be sitting right here sweating his bits off in the Michelobolter house come and be with us, RSVP add the link in the show notes and for those of you joining us on youtube get your comments in the chat gustavo kikayo says real madrid has quite the mountain to climb and our friends at the give and go podcast are saying oh shout out to the give and go podcast one of the best podcasts in the game i love a bit of self-promotion roar to the game itself this game centered around really a geopolitical telenovela more intrigued than Love Island.

3:11It's about Kylian Mbappe, aka French Benedict Arnold, playing against his old team for the first time after leaving 40 months ago. Rumor after rumor, seven years in Paris, he was always about to leave. Then he did. But unbelievably, it was like the Ewing theory lived out in French. Like Van Halen, when Sammy Hagar left and they unearthed David Lee Roth. PSG played collective Hungary, collective smiting football roar, they've become inevitable. They have. They came in as the best team in the world. We expected them to win it. And I guess if you're Fifi or if you're Gianni Infantino, you'll look at this and say, how do you legitimise a competition?

3:53And if the aim of this tournament was to find the best team in the world, the best team in the world are in the finals. So the format works. Chelsea. You know, I like to imagine Mbappe took the field. oh my name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die we should acknowledge Trent Alexander-Arnold was not in the starting line I told you he's out injured you're not a doctor but you had a great medical opinion I feel like that might be a minority report injury he's got it preemptively to avoid having to play against Ferris Jellier and Nuno Mendes that feels like Trent's stock has gone up today that is a defensive collapse that you can't blame on Trent Alexander-Arnold Trent Alexander-Arnold, I feel your pain.

4:39I've got to say, the opening of this game, my nipples were so electric, it was like they were set to stun. Two incredible saves from Courtois, one from Dembele. There was a riposte down the other end, Mbappe twinkled briefly, but then five minutes in, oh, by the way, five minutes in, you turned to me, because you're an elite football scout, and you said, I think both these teams are better than Chelsea football club. 20 years of working in around football, I think they might be better than the team that lost to Ipswich a few months ago. I think that is... I don't want to stick my neck out too far, Rog, but that feels safe.

5:16By that logic, you could also say Seattle Sounders are better than Real Madrid because they only lost to PSG 2-0. But then Real Madrid crapped the bed. The Club World Cup fleetingly became very, very goal-cut. The defending, not once but twice, on six minutes, Asensio went full on CONCACAF on his own penalty spot, miscontrolled then Bailey feasted charged in, Courtois brought him down, but he couldn't stop Ruiz charging him with white hot heat, Roar I mean, what was this? It was just like an elite football team with an appetite for self-destruction. I wonder if it's just because of the heat, because Asensio's not first choice, Dean Heysen would have been playing if he wasn't suspended I wonder if it's just a little momentary lapse of concentration he seemed to intercept the ball and then forget that you have to do the next thing and in that moment PSG punish you Three minutes later we had a sequel Goal Cup 2 I still know what you did last summer Rudiger this time couldn't happen to a nicer gent went all air guitar on a pretty basic clearance Dembele charged in I said at half time that I had Rio Ferdinand in my head just going Ballon d 'Or, Ballon d 'Or, Ballon d 'Or.

6:32I don't think either of us really think about who's going to win the Ballon d 'Or. Do you spend a lot of time wondering? Have you got a spreadsheet? I think about where Diego Luna is in the rankings, yeah. He's up there. Yeah, he is. He's up there. Definitely top five. But it does feel to me now that PSG are champions of Europe. PSG will be favourites on Sunday to be club world champions. Dembele, I think it flashed up that he scored 35 goals in this never-ending season. He feels like he might be the guy, I think, for the Ballon d 'Or, if that's the sort of thing you care about. I'll wait till Rio calls it, but you mentioned already Real Madrid tonight, that Dean Housen red card, really for nothing, no reason, against Dortmund did come back to bite them.

7:16They had such a little press in midfield, but they had to keep charging forward. For Xabi Alonso, that would be the agony, the press, the lack of robust muscle. They had no choice but to try and foray forward. I can't think of a team that is more painful to try and attack than PSG Raw. Mbappe was caught, 24th minute, on Michelob Ultra, superior moment of the match. Hakimi flicked into, I mean, it was like a Central Park's worth of space. Their crossing is better than any team I've seen since David Silva era, Manchester City, found Ruiz, and made Courtois look like Bradley Guzan. It was breathtaking football.

7:57It really, really was. I mean, Enrique running through the Misters with the joy of a child running through sprinklers in the park. I mean, it was a stunning moment of football. Just that these are two mighty teams, but one is so much greater as a whole. Yeah, and like you say, there's a mountain of difference between them. Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world. And then you see them against this PSG and it's a chasm. And it's the fact that Hakimi set that third goal up is crucial is crucial because it shows that PSG can hurt you in so many ways. That's the mark of a truly great team.

8:33You can keep Tvarek Schellier and Desiree Dwey quiet, and that's great, but then you've got Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, the best player in the world. You've got all these threats everywhere. Vitinha will spray balls around. João Neves is constantly moving. They can do so much. I haven't even mentioned Dembélé. They are that good. They will hurt you however they need to hurt you. And in that moment, we all Googled up the French for stop, stop, he's already dead. We learned from so many of you over there. It's arete, arete, il est déjà mort. And that was it, second half. This tournament, so hot, sterile football just kicks in for long spells.

9:12It's like watching a UFC fighter toy with an opponent with a ground game. Apart from, it wasn't Everton being neutralized. It was Real Madrid, Roar, of Mbappe and Vinicius. the greatest power in club football truly swatted aside that we've seen here and that reality was really haunting on 65 minutes you saw Real Madrid sub in Luka Modric a tiny giant of the game for the final time he's off to AC Milan to live out a dream that he's had since he was a small child learning the game on the fields of Croatia to finally be able to play football with Christian Pulisic. Yeah, there's two of the greatest living Croatians.

9:54It's going to be great that Modric's first words to Pulisic will be, it's pronounced Pulisic. That will, that is how that interaction will start, Rog. You know what, in all seriousness, for Pulisic. It's not up to me, it's up to Luca Modric. God bless. By the way, I would let him call me whatever he wants to call me. But it's incredible for Pulisic to be able to learn at the knee of that gentleman for at least one season. Yeah, and Modric won't play all of the time. He won't start every game. He won't kind of do thousands of minutes next season. But to have him around a team that's got not just Pulisic, but Pulisic, still Pulisic for now, but Yunus Moussa as well, to learn from players of that quality is a real privilege and it's a real opportunity.

10:39Will be unstoppable. Ramos added late to Lutas spanking. That was it. PSG4, Real Madrid nil. let's talk about Real Madrid first the first true bloody nose of the Xabi Alonso era they exit with a psychic wound, this will hurt in Florentino Perez land which is the equivalent of Jerry's world this will be something that is not going to be shrugged off, there will be an inquest after this with every Real Madrid defeat there is an inquest it's not a club that ever thinks it should lose and for all the kind of question marks over exactly what this tournament means. I think we can be certain that Florentino Perez saw it as a chance for Real Madrid to be crowned club world champions, which is a status he thinks they have anyway.

11:27So to lose it is a blow. And I guess Xabi, and I love Xabi, I love Xabi dearly, I guess he'll say, look, if you look at the team, Gonzalo Garcia started, he's not going to be first choice next season. Fran Garcia, the left back, they're about to sign another left back, Alvaro Carreras from Benfica. no high no high center day Asensio was started last season I think as ninth choice center back there are players to come back this isn't full strength Real Madrid but even so just the scale of that defeat that's a problem

12:01they leave the club world cup um really been one of the stories of this tournament just how enormous the heft of their brand is uh Real Madrid truly own America I mean it's an incredible statistic from henry bushnell madrid's six games at the club world cup have been 95 capacity the other 56 non-madrid game have been around 50 of capacity i mean the delta between them brand wise and the rest of football is remarkable over here psg we can't normalize what they're currently doing i mean they're playing enormous opponents and belittling them that incredible statistic five last knockout games. This is high stakes football.

12:45They've scored us at 18 goals, zero conceded. It is extraordinary just how suddenly everywhere, the number of PSG shirts in the audience today, incredible. Yeah, and it's testament to what Luis Enrique's done. The coaching job is amazing. He's such a sympathetic story as well. He's such an inspiring story. It's really hard not to root for Luis Enrique. rooting for PSG is a bit more complicated but as a spectacle, as a team they are by some distance the best in the world and look, Chelsea will go into that game on Sunday thinking they have a chance Enzo Marescu will play his like 4D chess but in terms of just pure quality, I don't think anyone can live with PSG, it would be extraordinary if Chelsea beat them How Pedro's going to have looked at that PSG backline and he'll be salivating, SW in the chat That says PSG, a little like prime Mike Tyson in the first 20 minutes of the game.

13:43The hairy Texan says, yeah, yeah, we all saw that game. What we want to know is where's Rory been eating in New York City? We'll get to that. There is no doubt. Quickly about the final. We're going to take your questions in one moment. I mean, Enzo Mareska must be looking at that performance and just being like, chuckles. I'm in danger. Yeah, what do you do? How do you come up with a plan to stop Varadz-Gellia and Dembele and Douay and Mendes and Hikini and Juan Neves and Fabian Ruiz? How do you do it? I don't know what you do to stop them. It feels like one of those games where if PSG are on it and they want it, they will win.

14:28Chelsea would have to produce a performance that, how do I put this diplomatically, we haven't necessarily seen them produce yet to beat PSG. That's a very, very nice way of framing it. We are ready for your questions, New York. If you want to ask anything, just raise your hand. Our beautiful producers will bring a mic over to you. At home, send us your questions in the YouTube live chat. Oh, let's go. Hi, I'm Sydney from Houston. With one game left, has the Club World Cup been a success? In life, things can only be polar opposites. It can either, those are the two options, a success or an abject humiliation for the organisers.

15:10It's going to be one or the other. Put you on the spot, baby. I think it's as like proof of concept, it works. There is something here. I think some of the execution hasn't been great. Not sure you should be playing football matches at midday in the American summer. I'm not a meteorologist, but apparently it's normally quite hot here this time of year. I think we said yesterday, play the games at American times. Forget about the European TV audience. But there is something here. The Brazilian teams were brilliant. The Brazilian fans were amazing. The Argentinian fans were amazing. Al-Hilal made the quarterfinals.

15:46And that's a great advert for the Saudi Pro League. And I think we're all here to advertise the Saudi Pro League. But Monterey came within a Sergio Ramos header of drawing with Dortmund, taking it to extra time. It's good for the rest of the world to have a chance to take a shot at Europe. The fact that Fluminense made the semis is great. I think the idea made sense. And yeah, the attendances could have been better in certain places. But the thing that I thought was most interesting today, apart from the performance, was behind one of the goals. Do American stadiums have ends? No. No, it's just all the stadium.

16:24So behind one of the goals where PSG scored the fourth, that was the proper PSG Ultras. that was the full-on one of the virages from the Parc des Princes, they are here. I don't think any other European team has done that. And if the ultras are into it, then the rest of the fans will follow. I mean, ultimately, this tournament was organised at an incredibly rapid clip. To pull off a World Cup is just an enormous feat of organisation. I mean, that has been ongoing. To try and organise two things at the same time was incredibly difficult. This tournament broke very, very late. so within that context I mean I think it's been remarkable what we just witnessed plus the fan moments plus the bones of an incredible tournament I mean you do believe the Brazilian presence here I mean that that was the most important part that we talked about yesterday that Fluminense showed the world that they can compete that they can belong that they can hang it's going to take a little bit more it's got a bit if it had been all four European sides in the semi-final it would have been borderline disastrous but I think that crack that crevice the joy of the Brazilian fans the fact that there's a number of Brazilian teams that will come back emboldened and the fact that what we saw today was genuinely I mean that because it was such a beat down the second half was somewhat heat struck we're almost denured to it but that was from a footballing competitive perspective knowing these two teams wanted it very badly knowing the Mbappé backstory that was human theatre of a gigantic scale yeah I think and it's the sort of straw line that will kind of send a little bit of a shockwave like if you're a football fan and you see that PSG have beaten Real Madrid 4-0 you'll pay attention to that that's in Real Madrid don't lose 4-0 very often that's I mean I think Borussia Dortmund beat them 4-0 a few years ago but that this doesn't happen there's two German fans in the audience the um Barcelona smash them occasionally and beat them 4-0 this season, right?

18:22But it doesn't happen often that Real Madrid lose a game by that many goals. That's a significant scoreline. Sophie Morrison has just made a joke in the chat that Michelou have missed an opportunity to brand the PSG Micheloub Ultras, which has been one of the best jokes I've ever heard and the worst in equal measure. And I don't think the Ultras would like me joking about that crap. I don't think they take sponsorship opportunities. Very kindly. I'm going to back away from that one in every regard. But it is time for the question from the Michelob Ultra Superior Access. You know what that is, right?

18:57It's where members get tickets and insider experiences you can't find anywhere else. Like tickets to next year's World Cup. This question is... God bless you. I love you. clapping the Michelob Ultra Superior Access programme is the Lord's work. Question for you, Ro. You're surprised by Chelsea's run to the Club World Cup final. No matter what happens there, whoever asks this question, I love, is already waving the white flag of defeat. Do you feel it's something that will help them push on this season? I am a little bit surprised by Chelsea's run to the Club World Cup final. It kind of helped they lost that game to Flamengo and finished second.

19:38that's really done them a favour, I think. As an English student of what is the easiest path to the furthest point in a tournament, sometimes you've got to lose a game, Rog. Sometimes you lose a game and it helps. I think they'll struggle at the start of the Premier League season because they will be exhausted. But they've just got so many players. They've got like 60 players. There's 40 Chelsea players who aren't here. They'll just use them for a bit and then switch it around. I think it will have an impact. but if they were to win it that's a huge boost for Maresca it's a huge boost for the Clear Lake project and it would help, winning is a habit winning is an addiction and once you do it most players will tell you, you want to do it again and again and again plus they'd have the Conference League and the Club World Cup double nobody's done that before, no one's ever done that before nobody, it's pioneering their shirt's just going to be like a NASCAR melange of patches I mean I think you've nailed it ultimately for the superior access question i just say chelsea may have won this battle surprise themselves um but they are going to lose the war like to that premier league season that beginning that first phase is going to be i mean just thinking about cole palmer's sunburn those first eight weeks are going to be very as someone as an english person that needs spf 100 it's going to be very touchy for that man um having said that the lesson we take from chelsea football club is fail kids don't be afraid of failure children watching fail yeah fail once yeah and then turn it to your advantage yeah children fail once get into the easy side of the draw and you two could be in the club world cup final and we've got another question coming on it bunch here yeah Hi guys.

21:26Hey beautiful, tell us your name and where you're from. I'm from London, my name's Dan. I wanted to move it forward to 2026 and ask as Brits live in the US, how great it's going to be watching England win the World Cup at the MetLife next year. How great is that going to be? Sorry everyone. How are the elephant tranquilizers that you're clearly taking?

21:49Do you know what, like six months ago I would have said that that was a reasonable possibility, but England look really bad at the moment. They are not, they've gone full England. We've had like eight years of England being unexpectedly and suspiciously good. And now we've reverted to type. So all the players don't like each other and the manager's not very popular. That's how England should be. It's important that England fulfil that role. So yeah, they've got such quality, they stand a chance. But as things stand right now, I think it's maybe not quite as optimistic as it was. I think you thought that Tuchel was like the missing piece, the manager.

22:29Ultimately, they just selected a German scapegoat as a point of blame in the wake of it. World Cup's going to be unbelievable. I tell you, the advantage is going to be to the teams who in the opening round are playing in a domed stadium. To be able to, every single game you can play in air conditioning in this tournament is to conserve so much bloody energy for the knockout rounds. And ultimately, it's going to be, remember when it was in Brazil and the US in that draw got, you know, they had to travel like 12 ,000 miles between games and play in three ecosystems. This World Cup is going to be as much about the caliber of your squad, your manager, your team culture.

23:11But it's going to be about the ecosystem of your journey across the Americas. It's going to be remarkable in every way. God bless optimism, joy, believe, hope, shattered hope. Those are the English way. And God bless. I'm full on American now. I watched America play England in the last World Cup with Matthew McConaughey. And I've got to say, I was wanting America to win even more than that great American. But I do wish you well on your journey. Enjoy every second and Godspeed. There's a couple more questions here. I want to read one from the chat, though. TPV903. is the PSG style Raw even possible in the modern Premier League?

23:50The PSG style? Yeah I think so Why wouldn't it be? David Moyes is probably the closest purveyor of the Luis Enrique theories. Everton have signed a good player for the first time since about 2012 I mean it's not though because if an English team had that kind of young talent it would be prized away almost instantly I mean this is what's going to stop PSG from becoming dynastic ultimately is that that young talent there is another I mean this is I'm saying this to a room full of PSG fans so I've got to keep my voice down but they do know there's another despite all the winning in the tournament play.

24:30I don't know if I agree with that I think if you are one of those PSG players if you're Desiree Douay you probably think you're at the biggest club in the world Desiree Douay will be playing for Nottingham Forest within three seasons after making a hundred million dollar move I think if you're one of the English bid six, there is no reason you can't play that way. You have all the money you need to get those players. You have access to all the talent. You have access to those managers. Tottenham turned down Luis Enrique. They went, we're post-it-trodler-whites, Rog. We know we're in public. Nothing wrong with that.

25:04Post-it-trodler-whites. Reform post-it-trodler-whites rather than orthodox. But, you know, we're still there. But they turned down Luis Enrique. I think Manchester United, there was a Manchester United fan in public, which is a bold move. I think they looked at Luis Enrique and thought, well, his English isn't great, so no. They can get these players and these managers, they just have to work well enough to do it. Because for all that PSG do have, like the wealth of Qatar, for all that have got a complete monopoly on the French title, they're spending that money wisely. And that's all you need to do.

25:37I mean, ultimately, that is the story of this moment for PSG. It is a triumph of their idea of football. They were trying to be the Galacticos for years. They put so much money in a garbage can and set it on fire. It was ridding themselves of Messi, Neymar and Mbappe. They ultimately are moving to this collective young fist that has allowed them to soar. I mean, it's that kind of strategy pivot. That's probably the most thrilling part of their narrative, plus Luis Enrique, who to me is the most fascinating human being, the most soulful human being, and right now clearly the most brilliant manager of egos and elite football minds in the game.

26:17But also like it's like philosophically it's quite important because what it says is that for all that like with you know we live in a world in which like individual stardom is the ultimate currency where fans increasingly follow players rather than teams. Soccer is a team sport. They got rid of the three of the most talented footballers of the modern era and the best player of all time and replace them with players that, I mean, Due was at Rennes, he wasn't that famous, Barcola was at Lyon, Kvart Scalier, my discovery, was the best player in Italy, but it was a diminished Serie A. And they've put them together and you have this team that basically is untouchable.

26:57And there's a lesson in there for all of us that it's the unit you build, the collective you build, not the individuals you have. Amen, that's a moral in life. Kvart Scalier calls himself your protégé. We'll take two more questions very quickly. Hi, Jacob from Boston. It seems largely irrelevant who the 11 are that go up against PSG, and it's breathtaking what they're doing on the pitch. Do you think it's enough to get the world to tune in to the Arby's League One next year? Is it the Uber Eats at the moment? I think it's the Uber Eats. No, I don't. And that's the problem, is that no matter what PSG do, they are in a lead that they have dominated to such an extent that it doesn't have an international appeal.

27:46I think lead-ons, like, marketing strategy, they call it the lead of talent. I think that's really... I'm not a marketing guy, Rog, but I think that's really smart. Like, tell people, watch this, and you will see the players your club is going to sign. But they don't have an international TV deal. The French TV deal, I think, is... They've had to renegotiate. There's a kind of economic crisis. Lyon have just been relegated. Their finances are so bad. It's one of the biggest clubs in France. That's not great for French football. So it's like a portrait in the attic thing going on that the prettier PSG get, like the uglier the situation in their wake is.

28:24And that's kind of the dark side of the story. By the way, I wish Orbeez sponsored a league. You could throw in some curly fries and I'd watch anything to be candid. I don't want to speak for the French, but I think they might not approve of Arby's. They love low roast beef. They really, really do. We're going to take this final question from this incredible... Oh, sorry. One over here too because you've been so bloody patient. And one from Josh Youngerman. We're going to be here all night. By the way, I have lost 30 pounds in front of your eyes this afternoon and it feels effing amazing. Tell us your name and what's your question, you beautiful human being.

28:57Yeah, so my name is Michael. I'm from Jersey. As a Barcelona fan, I was going to ask what Real Madrid's obsession with losing four nil is but um we've kind of gone over the scoreline already so i guess i'll ask my backup question which is if you could pick any team to replace chelsea in the final what team would you pick and what tactic would you employ to try to beat psg that's a great question who should it be like if you wanted it to be the two best teams in the world i think if you to be honest it feels to me like it would be great to have a brazilian team in the final like that has been the story of the tournament and flamengo i think are the strongest of the brazilian four they took Chelsea apart anyway so yeah it would have been ideal to me to have like a Europe-South America final, that feels like a club world championship thing if you wanted the one team in the last few months that's given PSG a game and actually beaten them, Rog Liverpool I'd call them minority opinion raw, I mean ultimately I mean I think the world would love to see an Everton PSG final and by the world I mean me and this gentleman in the Jordan Pickford jersey over there.

30:10We'll take these two very quickly you've been amazing let's get this can we get a mic over here guys right there to the PSG the classic PSG shirt. Do one sentence each. There you go. Hi guys I'm Yuri from Paris I'm Zouk and dead by my accent. You talk about a dynasty you talked about a dynasty we have a lot of players between like 18 and 21 so but also the calendar are packed like the schedule of each team are packed so considering this do you think in your opinion that PSG can go back to back in different seasons either in Champions League like staying at that level for how long? I want to separate myself from Roger's dynasty point because I think PSG can build a dynasty I don't see any reason why they can't They're finally starting to get the talent from Paris, from the Bonlieue, which is, apart from Sao Paulo, the most prolific place for footballers.

31:08They've got... Zaire Emery came on, and he's like 10. They've got so much talent there. And the fact that retaining the Champions League is really hard. It doesn't... Real Madrid do it, and you never understand how they've done it. But other than Real, no one's done it for years. the one advantage that PSG have is that domestically they can rest they will win Liga pretty much maybe Marseille the threat at the moment kind of but there's no Lyon Lyon have just lost their best player they can take it easy at the weekend and prepare for the Champions League so I think there is well put it this way I don't see at the moment a team in Europe who I look at and think they will be better than PSG next year.