LOS ANGELES: Champions League winners Paris St Germain crushed fellow European heavyweights Atletico Madrid 4-0 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Sunday to get their Club World Cup campaign off to a winning start. PSG landed the first blow in the Group B clash when Fabian Ruiz fired home from distance in the 19th minute as they showed no signs of rust in their first match since trouncing Inter Milan 5-0 to win their first Champions League title last month.

PSG doubled their advantage just before halftime when an Antoine Griezmann miss led to a counter-attack that ended with Vitinha firing home under sunny skies in Southern California. The LaLiga side appeared to have pulled one back when Julian Alvarez found the net in the 57th minute but it was overturned after a VAR review determined Koke had fouled Desire Doue in the leadup to the strike, with Atletico coach Diego Simeone sarcastically applauding the decision from the sideline.

The Spanish side’s nightmare continued when defender Clement Lenglet was sent off after receiving a second yellow card and Alexander Sorloth inexplicably missed what should have been a tap-in, instead sending it over the bar. Substitute Senny Mayulu added a third goal for PSG in the 87th minute to end any hopes of an Atletico comeback, while Lee Kang-in fired home a stoppage-time penalty to round off the scoring.

PSG will be back at the Rose Bowl on Thursday to face Brazilian team Botafogo while Atletico will travel north to Seattle to take on MLS side the Seattle Sounders. “The hardest thing to do in football is to maintain the level, not just going high and low,” Vitinha, who was named man of the match, said.

“That’s what I tried to do. Very good performance by the team and a very good start to this competition.” PSG were without Frenchman and Ballon d’Or favorite Ousmane Dembele, who suffered an injury while playing for France in the UEFA Nations League earlier this month, but they hardly needed him on Sunday.

They had 74 percent possession and 11 shots on target compared to Atletico Madrid’s one. The historic Rose Bowl in Pasadena was rocking thanks to the 80,000 fans who turned out amid the hot midday sun one year before the US will co-host the World Cup along with Mexico and Canada. “It was a different environment but it feels good to see so many people in the USA here to watch soccer, or to watch football, as I say,” Vitinha added. Four Atletico Madrid ultras have been handed suspended jail sentences for hanging a dummy of Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior from a bridge in what police deemed a “hate crime”, judicial sources said on Monday.

A dark-skinned effigy wearing the Brazil forward’s jersey was hung by the neck from a highway bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground in January 2023 ahead of the club’s match against Atletico. Police in May 2023 arrested four men—all of them members of Frente Atletico, one of Atletico Madrid’s ultra fan groups—who were suspected of being responsible. 

Under a plea deal with the prosecution which still must be confirmed by a court, the four pleaded guilty to the crimes of making threats against the player and infringing his fundamental rights, the judicial sources said.

Three of the men accepted a sentence of 14 months, while one was given a 22-month sentence for also distributing images of the act online. The four will not serve jail time since in Spain it is customary for those sentenced to under two years for non-violent crimes to have their sentence suspended if they have no criminal record. Public prosecutors had asked they each be slapped with a four-year jail term.

The four have signed a letter of apology addressed to Vinicius, Real Madrid, La Liga and the Spanish football federation, and will be required to complete a training programme on equal treatment and non-discrimination, La Liga said in a statement. They were also fined and barred from coming within 1,000 metres of the Brazilian player or any stadium for more than five years, the statement added.

“This ruling marks a strong step forward in the fight against hate and discrimination in sport,” La Liga said, noting it had filed the original complaint following the incidents. Real Madrid welcomed the ruling, saying in a separate statement the four bring to 14 the total number of people convicted for racist attacks against their players. The club pledged to continue efforts to “eradicate any racist behaviour in the world of football”.

The black Brazilian forward, who testified via videoconference in the case last month, has been the target of numerous racist incidents since arriving in Madrid in 2018, sparking public outrage and resulting in several court convictions. — AFP