As the Luka Modric era came to a close at Real Madrid, a new midfield force emerged on the global stage, as Paris Saint-Germain's trio of stars shined brightly at MetLife Stadium in the Club World Cup semifinals.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — If there was ever a fitting stage upon which to shine, it was now, in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup semifinal against Real Madrid in the shadow of New York City on Wednesday.
As legendary midfielder Luka Modric played his final 30 minutes as a Real Madrid player, there was a changing of the guard of sorts — not at Real Madrid specifically, but instead on the other side of the field.
Modric, once part of a generational midfield at Real Madrid alongside Toni Kroos, is nearing the end of his career. Now, at PSG, a new legendary midfield trio has been born.
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Vitinha has quietly built a Ballon d'Or candidacy, his effervescent passing and eloquent progression saw him glide across the MetLife Stadium pitch. Fabian Ruiz scored two goals and still managed to somehow fly under the radar in the post-match conversation, and Joao Neves remained an afterthought despite a dominant performance on and off the ball.
"At the end of the day, we are a team, where it's all about collective," Ruiz said after the match. "Today, I contributed to the team with two goals, but we were up against Real Madrid, who are a very tough opponent, and I think we produced a brilliant match."
The numbers from PSG's performance in midfield jump off the page. They out-passed Real Madrid 384-95 in the first half and 631-255 overall. Vitinha completed 105 passes just himself, including 11/14 long and 13 into the final third. Neves completed 64 of his 66 pass attempts (97%) while winning all four of his tackle attempts and six of nine ground duels. And Ruiz, outside of his two goals, completed 71 of 76 passes and won both of his tackle attempts before being hauled off just past the hour mark.
"I don't know if it was my best match, but I think it's important that when we leave today, collectively, I think from start to finish we had a brilliant performance," Ruiz said. "At this time of the season, it's very difficult to perform, but we have to be very happy after that."
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While the numbers certainly do it justice, the PSG midfield is best appreciated visually. They flow, they link, they connect, they ping, they progress...all the words you can think of to describe one fluid motion apply to this team.
PSG are devastating on the counter, they are brilliant building from the back, they can break down a low block, they can strike quickly, and they can finish moves from a dead stop. They can attack from wide, they can feed the ball through the middle vertically, they can work inside-out, they can work outside-in.
And all of it starts in the middle. Vitinha is the field general, Joao Neves covers his back, and Fabian Ruiz is the link to the attacking trio. It all works, it all fits — it all sparkles.
"It is the incredible quality of my players," said PSG head coach Luis Enrique after the match. "They are generous. Don't forget this team...at the beginning of the season people said we didn't have a leader. But the quality of my players meant that since January 2025 we scored over 100 goals, and we conceded some of the fewest numbers. To do that you have to be generous, this is how my players come together as a team."
Nothing PSG have accomplished this season could have been possible without this specific midfield trio. Vitinha, who arrived from Porto three years ago, is everything PSG had wanted Marco Verratti to be. Fabian Ruiz has transformed his game to fill a position that a year ago seemed to be a hole in the PSG roster. And 20-year-old Joao Neves, newly arriving from Benfica last summer, completes the puzzle.
Verratti was meant to be the lynchpin, but never truly grasped the trust of the fans. PSG tried Renato Sanches, Carlos Soler, Marco Asencio, Manuel Ugarte, and even 16-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery. Many of them were good, but none of them were great. Not this great, anyway.
"I think the connection that we have between each other, how we work, and how we connect between us is amazing," said Achraf Hakimi after the match. "I'm lucky to be part of this team."
The all-in mentality is part of what makes this set of players so exceptional and so hard to exploit. With elite recovery defenders behind them and a defensive stopper in Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz are willing to press at a high rate, as do the forwards in front of them.
While the previous iteration of PSG — one with Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe — was on another level offensively, they struggled against upper-echelon opposition thanks to their inability to press.
On Wednesday afternoon, PSG showed Mbappe's Real Madrid exactly what they were missing: a dedication to the cause. While Xabi Alonso may eventually get his side to buy in, it was clear that Real Madrid had zero interest in pressing whatsoever, allowing PSG's midfield to turn on the style, luxuriously flowing through the middle of the pitch almost uncontested.
As Modric's days in white are done, a new midfield of legendary proportions emerges on the global stage. This midfield has all the ingredients to become one talked about in the same way we refer to that Real Madrid side that won six Champions League titles.
And thanks to this new FIFA competition, they have a chance to cement that possibility by adding a truly global Club World Cup crown to their trophy case, one which may become quite crowded by the end of it.
Category: General Sports
