ATLANTA — The first “Messi! Messi!” chants inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium began during warmups Sunday morning, as 65,574 fans filed in for the highly anticipated Club World Cup Round of 16 showdown between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami team and his former team, the recently-crowned European champion Paris Saint-Germain.

Before long, it was abundantly clear that Messi’s new team was not in the same league as his old team. Despite having the Argentine legend and a few of his high-profile friends on its roster, Inter Miami was no match and lost 4-0 against a PSG team that won the Champions League final 5-0 over Inter Milan last month.

All four PSG goals were scored in the first half.

The French powerhouse showed its superiority from the opening whistle with exquisite passing and a high press that pinned Inter Miami back and made it nearly impossible for Messi, Luis Suarez and the rest of Miami’s attack to get anything going.

Messi touched the ball just 14 times the first 45 minutes and whenever they showed him on the scoreboard, he looked frustrated and gravely concerned.

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano conceded that despite his team’s improbable undefeated run through the group stage, they were outclassed by their Parisian opponents, who move on to play the winner of Bayern Munich vs. Flamengo in the quarterfinals.

“We fulfilled our objective coming into the tournament, as we knew we could compete to a certain level, but sooner or later, reality sets in and PSG clearly showed that,” Mascherano said. “Most of all, I am proud of the players for how they played over the four games. We met expectations. Unfortunately, when you give up a goal so early against a team like PSG, it makes things very difficult and it was like an avalanche the rest of the half.”

PSG took a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute on header by a wide open Joao Neves on a free kick from the left by Vitinha.

Mascherano was disappointed that Miami gave up that goal so early on a set piece because they had prepared for that situation, he said. “It was too easy. If they were going to score on us, I wish it had been in another way.”

Neves struck again in the 39th minute on a clinical right-footed finish from the center of the box off an assist by Fabian Ruiz.

And things only got worse for Miami as PSG maintained possession of the ball for 73 percent of the first half.

Inter Miami went down 3-0 on an own goal by Toto Aviles in the 44th minute, and if that wasn’t enough to depress Miami fans, Achraf Hakimi made it 4-0 in first-half added time.

Messi and his teammates trudged off the field into the locker room, looking as demoralized as their fans.

As painful as it was for Inter Miami fans to watch the first half, Mascherano surely felt worse. He said he felt so gutted that he wished he could have laced up his boots and joined his players.

“During the first half, I wanted to be on the pitch with my players supporting them,” he said. “You know when you play these kind of games you are going to live difficult moments. The message at half-time was we have to live with this.

“It’s difficult when it’s 4-0 and you know you don’t have much chance, you don’t expect to change the result but it was important to show a good image to people. The players did really well in second half, they tried to do their best, this is the way we want to play.”

Miami improved in the second half, as PSG took its foot off the gas a bit and gave the men in pink more room in which to move. Messi created a perfect chance for Luis Suarez to score, but the Uruguayan was unable to finish. Tadeo Allende also was in position to score, but his shot went wide. And Messi had a shot saved.

“The second half they dropped their rhythm a little bit and we were able to play more and show what we normally do in MLS,” Mascherano said. “In conclusion, I am proud of what this group did and now we look to the future and see if we can use all this experience for the domestic competitions and other tournaments that await us and see if we can meet expectations.”

Inter Miami’s Starting XI featured Oscar Ustari, Marcelo Weigandt, Maxi Falcon, Noah Allen, Jordi Alba, Tadeo Allende, Fede Redondo, Sergio Busquets, Telasco Segovia, Messi (captain), Luis Suarez. Allen went down with an apparent hamstring injury at the 19-minute mark, was replaced by Aviles, who one minute later was shown a yellow card for a bad foul.

PSG’s starters included Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos (captain), Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha, Joao Neves, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola.

In addition to the Messi and PSG reunion, the game also featured PSG coach Luis Enrique against five of his former FC Barcelona players, Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Alba, and Javier Mascherano, now the Inter Miami coach and a protégé of Enrique’s.

Both coaches discussed their special relationship before and after the game.

Inter Miami co-owners David Beckham and Jorge and Jose Mas were at the game, and shared their thoughts during the DAZN.com pre-game show.

“We’re super proud, we started Inter Miami with dreaming,” said Jorge Mas. “It’s on our jersey, `Freedom to Dream’. To be standing here playing in the Round of 16 of the Club World Cup against the European champions is a dream come true.

“But it’s only part of our journey. We continue dreaming big. Irrespective of the outcome [Sunday], we’re going continue dreaming so that when people think of futbol in the United States, they’ll think of Inter Miami. It’s a historic moment for our club.”

Beckham, who was in an arm sling following surgery, said: “This a big moment to be playing against a team that in my opinion is the best team in the world. It’s going to be a tough game, but anything in possible. Freedom to Dream is written on our jersey, and we have to believe in that.”

Alas, the dream of perhaps shocking PSG on Sunday became more of a nightmare, especially early on, for Inter Miami. The disparity in the two clubs was crystal clear. Inter Miami returns to MLS action on Saturday on the road against FC Montreal.

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