FIFA Club World Cup: Poor Messi and Ronaldo's shocking statement

(Dan Tri) - Many people feel sorry for Messi when he had to carry the weak Inter Miami. Meanwhile, Al Hilal's success is proof that C. Ronaldo was right in his shocking statement about the Saudi Arabian league.

FIFA Club World Cup Quarter-Final Fixtures

2am July 5: Fluminense vs Al Hilal

8am July 5: Palmeiras vs Chelsea

11pm July 5: PSG vs Bayern Munich

3am July 6: Real Madrid vs Dortmund

Poor Lionel Messi

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano described the first half of the match against Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the 1/8 round of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the US on June 29 as “a bloodbath”. That was the time when Inter Miami was like a punching bag for PSG to throw punches. The Paris team scored 4 goals against their opponents, while Inter Miami did not even have a shot.

Messi was helpless when he had to carry the Inter Miami team to compete with PSG (Photo: Getty).

In the second half, Messi burned his last breath, when he had a few threats to PSG's goal. But all the efforts of the Argentine superstar could not save Inter Miami from a humiliating defeat.

Messi is like a superhero character that is popular in American movies. But facing such a terrible "monster", El Pulga alone cannot rescue the weak team of Inter Miami.

Seeing Messi's bewildered face and his running steps beyond his 38 years of age, fans felt sympathy for this striker. Carrying a weak team to face the strongest team in Europe is truly an impossible task.

“Messi tried to help Inter Miami go as far as possible,” The Athletic emphasized. Meanwhile, someone who is not used to meddling in other people's business like Ibrahimovic also had to open his mouth: "Messi did not lose, only Inter Miami lost. Please do not blame the defeat on him. Messi is playing with a statue, not his teammate. If you put Messi in a good team, he is still a formidable lion."

Football is a team sport . It is difficult to put the burden on an old man like Messi. According to Opta Sport's rankings, Inter Miami is only ranked 151st in the world (1 place lower than the newly promoted team Wrexham). They appeared in the 1/8 round of the FIFA Club World Cup. Therefore, the Florida club's defeat to PSG was also predictable.

Fans only feel sorry for Messi when he is put in such a bad system. Perhaps, since Barcelona's 2-8 defeat to Bayern Munich in 2020, we have seen the image of El Pulga being so helpless.

Al Hilal earthquake and C.Ronaldo's statement

Not long ago, C. Ronaldo affirmed that the Saudi Arabian league is in the top 5 in the world . This is not the first time CR7 has expressed this opinion. Remember, last year, superstar number 7 also affirmed that the Saudi Arabian league had surpassed Ligue 1 (France). He once laughed at the view of comparing the highest league in Saudi Arabia with the US Major League Soccer (MLS), where Messi is playing.

C. Ronaldo did not flatter when he rated Saudi Arabia as one of the top 5 in the world (Photo: Getty).

After that somewhat “big” statement, C. Ronaldo received a lot of criticism that he was trying to “flatter” the Saudi Arabian league, which is paying him a salary of up to 200 million euros per year. However, Al Hilal's recent victory over Man City has made many people really look at the number one Saudi Arabian league with different eyes.

No one imagines that Al Hilal could defeat a team that is at the top of the world and led by a top coach (Pep Guardiola) like Man City. It is difficult to say that Man City is subjective or lacks motivation because they have always played with great determination since the beginning of the tournament.

Watching Al Hilal play, many people thought this was a European team, not an Asian one. Coach Simone Inzaghi has turned Al Hilal into another version of Inter Milan, with a sharp and extremely disciplined counter-attacking style of play.

The migration of stars like C. Ronaldo, then Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Fabinho, Riyad Mahrez... as well as many world-class coaches like Rudi Garcia, Stefano Pioli (Al Nassr), Jorge Jesus (Al Nassr, Al Hilal), Simone Inzaghi (Al Hilal), Laurent Blanc, Nuno Espírito Santo (Al Ittihad) or Steven Gerrard (Al-Ettifaq)... has turned the tournament into "Europeanized".

According to statistics, up to 3/4 of the coaches working in the Saudi Arabian championship are of European nationality. There are only two local coaches, Mohammed Al-Abdali and Saad Al-Shehri. That helps the clubs in this tournament have more of a European feel than an Asian one.

Al Hilal has the appearance of a European football team (Photo: Getty).

In recent years, Saudi Arabian clubs, with their “bottomless pockets”, have also continuously recruited stars from Europe (including those at the peak of their performance). In the Al Hilal squad alone, people see a series of familiar names such as Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Yassine Bounou, Malcom, Joao Cancelo, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

It is no coincidence that C. Ronaldo has not won any title in Saudi Arabia for more than two years. Just look at the quality of Al Hilal and you will have the answer. Coach Inzaghi's team promises to be a notable "dark horse" in the rest of this tournament.

The quarter-finals are full of surprises.

According to the Opta supercomputer, Chelsea are the number one candidate for the FIFA Club World Cup title this season with a rate of 26.8%. It is not because The Blues are strong that God has helped the team of coach Enzo Maresca.

Chelsea's two strong opponents in this draw, Inter Milan and Man City, both suffered shocking defeats in the round of 16 against Fluminense and Al Hilal, meaning that, in theory, the door to the final is wide open for the London team.

The odds of each team winning the FIFA Club World Cup according to analysis by the supercomputer Opta (Photo: Opta).

Chelsea will face Palmeiras in the quarter-finals. If they win this match, Maresca's team will face Fluminense or Al Hilal in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, in the remaining bracket, 4/5 of the strongest remaining teams, PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Dortmund, are forced to fight to the death to win a ticket to the semi-finals. That is why PSG, who just won the Champions League and won convincingly from the beginning of the tournament, is only ranked second in the group of championship candidates with 24.9%, while Real Madrid is only ranked third with 16.9%.

It should be added that Opta simulated 10,000 times to find the above result. However, life does not work like a machine. Palmeiras, with their annoying defensive style, are not easy prey for Chelsea. Likewise, Al Hilal or Fluminense can completely continue to create shocks thanks to their annoying style of play.

In the “dark horse” bracket, Chelsea needs to be very steady if they don't want to “overturn the boat” against those who are always ready to create surprises. In the remaining bracket, the level of PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Dortmund is not too different. They promise to create a miniature Champions League in the US.

Regardless, up to this point, the FIFA Club World Cup has brought the audience so many emotions, from destruction, big surprises, intense matches... The deeper the tournament goes, the more the audience wants to go to the end.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/fifa-club-world-cup-messi-toi-nghiep-va-tuyen-bo-soc-cua-ronaldo-20250703231831952.htm