PSG pummelling proves Real Madrid's Galacticos are miles behind Europe's elite sides: Xabi Alonso has a huge job on his hands to turn Los Blancos around

Ahead of kick-off in the United States this summer, there was a sense that the Club World Cup meant more to Madrid than most. They had spent the season that preceded the tournament having their nose blooded both in La Liga, where they were comfortably second-best behind Barcelona, and in the Champions League, where they limped through the league phase before succumbing to Arsenal in the quarter-finals. This competition, while derided by some, was then a chance for Madrid to reassert themselves as the best team in club football - and Florentino Perez knew it.

The Madrid president moved swiftly to ensure Alonso was in situ well ahead of Madrid's opening game against Al-Hilal, and aimed to bolster the team's troublesome backline by signing Premier League defenders Dean Huijsen and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Perez even agreed to pay €10 million to Liverpool so that Alexander-Arnold could be released from his contract a month later, while Jude Bellingham's long-awaited shoulder surgery was pushed back so that he would miss the start of next season rather than the trip to the U.S. Prospective free agents Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez were convinced to stick around, too. Madrid were doing all they could to be at their very best for the summer showcase.

Wednesday's result, then, was a massive psychological blow. Madrid weren't beaten here as much as they were blown away.

They flirted with an equitable contest for all of five minutes, before some shambolic defending set the tone for what was to follow. Raul Asencio - only playing due to Huijsen's suspension - dallied for too long on the edge of his own six-yard box, which allowed Ousmane Dembele to steal in and force the ball into the path of Ruiz, who tucked into the bottom corner.

Three minutes later, more laughable defending from Madrid, this time via Antonio Rudiger, who failed to connect with an attempted square-pass to Asencio, leaving Dembele a free run through on goal to make it two.

PSG's third was no fault of Madrid's. Sure, Mbappe might have reacted slightly quicker after losing the ball high up the pitch, but Luis Enrique's side were instantly on the charge. Achraf Hakimi found Desire Doue, who swivelled and, without looking, pinged a ball into space for the Moroccan. Hakimi stretched his legs, outran the breathless Fran Garcia, and squared for Ruiz, who completed his brace. After 24 minutes, it had become a mauling. At the first of the game's scheduled hydration breaks, Madrid looked relieved to merely have a second to breathe.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia might have made it four before half-time, but fired wide, and while Madrid kept their opponents relatively quiet in the second half, there was still one final blow, provided by substitute Goncalo Ramos. Massacre complete.

Before the game, there had been hope. The train to the stadium was littered with Madrid jerseys, and 'Hala Madrid' quickly became a catchphrase at ticket scanners and in the halls of tunnels between tracks. One fan tried to start a PSG chant, but received daggers from Blancos supporters before he could build momentum. It was a gross, hot, humid and sticky day for football, MetLife Stadium was an optimistic sea of white before kick-off.

Madrid players were cheered loudly as they received their still-comical individual intros, while boos greeted each PSG player who appeared onto the pitch. This was always going to feel like something of a Madrid home game - such is the club's global appeal - but the scale of the discrepancy in fans between the two sides was remarkable, a tiny pocket of Parisian dark blue behind one goal serving as the only real area of French camaraderie.

If there is one thing that these Madrid fans must be applauded for is their sense of authenticity. Indeed, as soon as those in white started struggling, the boos rained down from the stands. Asencio was jeered; Rudiger was taunted; even Kylian Mbappe, the icon of this Madrid team, was mocked as he toiled against his former club.

It is seldom easy to feel sorry for Madrid. They can spend more than pretty much anyone else, and make a ritual of pinching the best players from every other big team in Europe, a lot of the time without even paying a fee. This is the Galactico model: sign the big names, disregard what everyone else thinks.

Still, as they were outran, outmuscled and outplayed by a superior team on Wednesday, it became clear just how significant the difference is between these two sides. Madrid are a very, very good football team. They may be a work in progress under a new manager who is still tinkering with his tactics, but they remain a sublime collection of remarkably skilled individuals. Against most teams, on most days, that is enough.

PSG are not most teams, though. Luis Enrique claimed that when Mbappe left in the summer of 2024, that his side would improve. And what a magnificent job he has done in proving himself right. PSG are a finely balanced unit who dominate in midfield and are devastating up front. They don't play with a recognised striker, and still have scored 176 goals in 64 games (2.4 per game) since the beginning of the season. That takes truly sublime coaching.

They executed their gamplan with aplomb here. When PSG lost the ball, they fought hard to win it back instantly. When Madrid pressed, they passed through them. When Madrid went long, PSG caught them offside. By full-time, they had completed almost three-times as many passes as Madrid - and that was after they had replaced Ruiz and his tempo-setting ability midway through the second period.

Alonso now has less than six weeks to figure out how to bridge the gap. On Wednesday, for the first time in his tenure, Vinicius Jr and Mbappe were both fully fit and at his disposal for 90 minutes. But given the excellent form of replacement striker Gonzalo Garcia, Alonso had a decision to make: bench one of his two stars, or leave out Garcia? He decided to instead start all three, leaving to play Vinicius wide on the right.

It proved to be a disastrous call. Madrid didn't press with any clarity in attack, while when Vinicius did receive the ball on the right, he looked awkward and misplaced, an elite footballer confronted with the angles, spaces and scenarios that were totally alien to him. The result was an array of loose touches and misplaced passes from the Brazilian.

Madrid's midfield, meanwhile, was made up of an irritated Aurelien Tchouameni, overrun Arda Guler and frantic Jude Bellingham, and while none could be crticised for their efforts, any semblance of cohesion was lacking. In fairness, no midfield has truly been able to contain PSG this year - never mind a trio who had been hastily assembled in their first real test against an elite side.

Throw in the absence of Alexander-Arnold - who picked up an injury in training on the eve of the game - and whatever balance Alonso thought he might be able to establish was in tatters. After 30 minutes, he abandoned his gameplan, went to a 4-4-2, and asked Garcia, ever the diligent servant, to basically just cover ground on the right side. All it did was slow the bleeding.

For PSG, this was a rampant display. They got one over Madrid while proving once and for all that they no longer need Mbappe. They showed up at a party in front of their ex and made him look silly in his new relationship.

For Madrid, this was the final blow in a truly miserable season. Modric played his final game in Madrid white, as did Vazquez. Rodrygo, meanwhile, sat on the bench, meaning he has probably kicked his final ball for the club, too.

Those three are now part of the past, but what does Madrid's future look like? Does Garcia, having starred in five of Madrid's six Club World Cup matches, now have to start? And if he does, what does that mean for Mbappe, Vinicius and new arrival Franco Mastantuono? Can Guler, Tchouameni and Bellingham, meanwhile, play in the same midfield? And are more defensive reinforcements required?

Alonso, at full-time, promised that things would be different next season. He insisted that this is a project, and that Madrid need further games and time on the training pitch to make things work. There will, however, undoubtedly be calls for Perez to open his wallet again - and not just to bring in Benfica left-back Alvaro Carreras.

This felt like a wake-up call, a sign that Madrid's rebuild is nowhere near done. Even those far away from Santiago Bernabeu could see it, jeering the team that some had never seen live before as they toiled against the actual best team in the world.