PSG battle past Seattle Sounders to progress to Club World Cup knockouts

Achraf Hakimi celebrates with Bradley Barcola after scoring PSG's second goal

Paris Saint-Germain sealed their place in the Round of 16 of the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC), as the French side won 2-0 against Seattle Sounders. 00

Despite dominating proceedings against their North American opposition, the European champions were indebted to fortune for the slim lead that they took into the HT break.

When the breakthrough eventually came, it was from a huge deflection off Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, as the Georgian inadvertently put his side in the lead when he found himself in the path of a wayward Vitinha shot.

The goal proved to be the culmination of a period of pressure that saw Stefan Frei make a string of saves, most notably acrobatically denying D9sir9 Dou9 after the French youngster rifled a shot towards the top corner.

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While the Sounders’ attacking presence was limited in the first half, they failed to take advantage of a Gianluigi Donnarumma gift that gave them the chance to take the lead inside the opening 20 minutes.

The Italian goalkeeper dallied on the ball outside of his box, before putting a tame pass into the path of Seattle striker JesFAs Ferreira, but he blasted a long way over from a tight angle.

It was a similarly dominant opening to the second half for Luis Enrique’s men, but after their surprise loss to Botafogo last week, a one-goal lead still left them perilously close to exiting the tournament.

Goal Sequence

When Les Parisiens eventually got the breathing space of a second goal, it came from a ruthless counter attack, as a rare Sounders attack broke down and Dou9 found himself unmarked in midfield.

The Frenchman found substitute Bradley Barcola, whose low cross into the box was met by the marauding Achraf Hakimi, who placed the ball beyond Frei to seal his team’s passage to the knockout stages.

It was a gruelling final 30 minutes for the MLS side, who admirably chased shadows in the midday sun, but were defeated long before referee Cristi1n Garay blew the final whistle to draw the match to an end.

Momentum

Despite failing to get a point in the group stage, Cristian Roldan almost gave the home crowd the moment they had been waiting for in the final minute, but the midfielder’s stunning long-range strike went just wide of Donnarumma’s post in the final act of the Sounders’ CWC campaign.

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