Luis Enrique remained assured his Paris Saint-Germain group would qualify for the subsequent spherical of the Membership World Cup regardless of their shock 1-0 defeat to Botafogo.
The European champions had been shocked at California’s Rose Bowl, with Igor Jesus’ Thirty sixth-minute strike the distinction between the 2 sides in Group B.
Certainly, Botafogo’s win over PSG is the primary victory by a South American group over a European group within the Membership World Cup (together with earlier codecs) since Corinthians beat Chelsea within the 2012 ultimate.
However Luis Enrique’s group had been dominant within the fixture, registering an anticipated objectives (xG) of 0.78 from their 16 pictures, although solely two of their efforts had been on track, whereas additionally boasting 74.6% possession within the contest.
Botafogo, in the meantime, noticed all 4 of their efforts check Gianluigi Donnarumma within the PSG objective, however the Italian may do nothing to cease Jesus’ deflected strike from discovering the again of the online 9 minutes earlier than the break.
PSG thought that they had levelled the sport within the 79th minute when Bradley Barcola, who has been linked with a transfer to Bayern Munich this summer season, discovered a well past Botafogo goalkeeper John, however his objective was dominated out for offside.
And the Brazilian outfit had been capable of maintain on to seal a well-known victory, changing into the primary group to cease PSG scoring in a aggressive fixture in 19 matches, after they had been crushed 1-0 by Liverpool within the first leg of their Champions League spherical of 16 conflict.
“Shocked, no. We knew it was going to be a troublesome, very shut recreation. Botafogo defended very properly,” Luis Enrique instructed reporters after the match. “Botafogo is the group that has defended greatest towards us this season, whether or not within the league or within the Champions League.
“We had the chance to attain, however we didn’t, and the match turned tougher. We all know the difficulties of this competitors.
“We’ve got to consider the final recreation (towards Seattle on Monday). It’s a really quick competitors, you could be out rapidly. There is usually a three-way tie in our group. Nobody can know who will go, the group is open.”
PSG had outscored their final three opponents by a mixed rating of 12-0 heading into the sport, successful the Coupe de France and the Champions League ultimate alongside the best way.
And regardless of the defeat, Luis Enrique insisted that his group had been able to progressing to the subsequent spherical of the competitors.
“If there’s one group that may flip a state of affairs round, it’s ours. And there aren’t a lot of them. When it comes to perspective, we had been excellent,” Luis Enrique added.
“The end result shouldn’t erase the whole lot. We’ve got to take a look at what we did properly and what we will enhance. For instance, we conceded extra transitions than in lots of matches.
“However in these tournaments, it’s a must to carry out properly in the important thing moments. We weren’t.”
Brazil’s 4 groups on the 32-club event are unbeaten thus far and Botafogo boss Renato Paiva mentioned it confirmed the power of the sport within the South American nation.
“I feel it’s the standard of Brazilian gamers, the standard of what individuals are doing in Brazil, particularly the coaches,” he mentioned. “Brazil will all the time be Brazil in world soccer.”
In the meantime, within the different Group B fixture, Atletico Madrid responded to their 4-0 defeat to PSG with a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders, helped by Pablo Barrios’ brace.
Barrios sensationally curled Diego Simeone’s facet into an Eleventh-minute lead after smashing Giuliano Simeone’s cutback into the online, which cannoned the crossbar on its manner in.
Atletico doubled their lead two minutes after half-time when Marcos Llorente’s gorgeous drive from distance was tipped onto the crossbar by Stefan Frei, just for the rebound to fall to Robin Le Normand, who squared the ball for Axel Witsel to go dwelling.
Albert Rusnak halved the deficit three minutes later, just for Barrios to revive Atletico’s two-goal lead within the fifty fifth minute with one other well-taken end into the appropriate nook.
Nice W! pic.twitter.com/H63xCfj1uT
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) June 20, 2025
The outcomes from the penultimate spherical of fixtures in Group B left it broad open as to who will progress into the subsequent spherical heading into the ultimate matchday.
Botafogo’s victory over PSG put them three factors away from Luis Enrique’s facet, who’re stage with Atletico within the standings after the primary two group video games.
Atletico face Botafogo on Monday, and know they need to beat their opponents by three objectives to advance, with the Brazilian facet in pole place to progress in prime spot.
Simeone’s group may decide up a degree and hope for a PSG defeat towards the winless Sounders, however the European champions be out for all three factors to make sure a spot within the final 16.
