Lionel Messi and Inter Miami exit Club World Cup after 4-0 loss to PSG in round of 16

ATLANTA AP By ALLYN TUCKER The champions of Europe booted Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates out of the Club World Cup on Sunday Paris Saint-Germain Messi s former club and the club that won the Champions League final only a insufficient weeks ago contained one of the challenge s greatest players at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and routed Inter Miami - in the round of Defensive struggles again plagued Miami with all four of PSG s goals coming before halftime An early injury to defender Noah Allen contributed to then crew s problems while goalkeeper Oscar Ustari continued to excel Offensively Messi and his forward line spent the majority of the first half in their own half The second-half performance improved but the group appeared to be overly reliant on a moment of Messi magic to help them advance Related Articles Bay Area native Diego Luna capably replaces Christian Pulisic for U S in Gold Cup opener Sunnyvale native Diego Luna s assists lead USMNT over Trinidad Tobago in CONCACAF Gold Cup opener Dreams will take root Santa Clara starts the yearlong countdown to the World Cup US men look unprepared for World Cup as blowout loss extends streak to One year from World Cup opener FIFA leaves questions unanswered on tickets and measure Inter Miami was the only Major League Soccer crew to advance to the expanded tournament s knockout round The association defied expectations with a - preeminence over Portuguese club FC Porto which was heavily favored going into the match That performance caught the attention of soccer fans around the world as Miami became the first MLS club to beat a European club in an official competition Messi exits the tournament with a perfect record of group stage advancement The Argentine has never been eliminated in the group stage of an official tournament whether playing for a club or his Argentina national association Despite Sunday s loss Miami s tournament play revealed various positives as the group prepares to return to its MLS schedule Besides the win over Porto Miami also drew with Brazilian club Palmeiras a crew that advanced to the quarterfinals of the competition on Saturday Miami is in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with an - - record points behind first-place Philadelphia Union Last season Miami won the MLS Supporters Shield for the league s best regular-season record AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer