Lionel Messi brutally trolled during nightmare PSG reunion at Club World Cup

Lionel Messi suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of his former employers as Paris Saint-Germain put Inter Miami to the sword at the Club World Cup. PSG showed no mercy to their former star player, racing into a 4-0 lead at half-time in Atlanta.

Messi left PSG in 2023 after two years, having been left unconvinced they could compete for the top prizes in Europe. They have since won the Champions League under his former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique, shedding their image an expensively-assembled but underperforming side.

Enrique managed Miami's star quartet of Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets at Barcelona and saw all four line up against PSG on Sunday. But Miami were no match for the Champions League winners, with Joao Neves scoring twice and Achraf Hakimi once as an own goal from Tomas Aviles made it 4-0 at the break. PSG eased off the gas in the second half and the match finished 4-0.

Messi is now 38 years old an in the twilight of his career and his age was made plain by a banner being held by some particularly mean Atlanta fans in the stands. It showed the Argentine great with a bald head, a grey beard and missing teeth - and the comments on social media weren't much kinder.

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"This match is a humiliation ritual for Messi," one fan wrote on X. "Messi is just walking around," another complained, while others shared clips of PSG stars Nuno Mendes and Neves brushing him off the ball.

"Looks like PSG came with a point to prove - payback for all that trash talk when he left the club. This one’s personal!" a third supporter noted.

On the other hand, others shared a clip of Messi producing a magical pass for Suarez, which he managed not to score from to deny the playmaker a stunning assist.

Speaking in the build-up to the match, PSG boss Enrique paid tribute to Messi and made it clear that his players couldn't take victory for granted.

"Anyone who relaxes for 10 seconds in football already knows where they are. It's not like there's no doubt they have the level and the quality, because they haven't lost that," he said.

"I've seen all three of Inter Miami's games and some previous ones, and they have that quality. If we're not able to press them, it will be difficult to pressure them," Luis Enrique told reporters on Saturday.

"If we're not able to take the ball away from them, things don't look good because Busquets is still the same; Leo Messi is unique on the ball. Luis Suárez, you saw the last goal he scored, what a skill for managing, Jordi Alba coming in deep, he's still the same.

"We all know Leo's pass to Jordi in the world of football, but it happens again and continues to happen every game, and if they have a coach like Mascherano, it's clear that either we give a great performance and maintain the necessary level of intensity, or they'll win the game, easy, there's no doubt about that."

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