Real Madrid meet Paris Saint-Germain in Club World Cup semifinal that serves as check-in on Kylian Mbappe

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – There is no more obvious occasion to wax lyrical about sports than the meeting of two titans in a high-stakes matchup, a predictable outcome for the final stages of any notable competition. Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique did just that, though he was more focused on shock value than the not-so-surprising Club World Cup semifinal between his side and Real Madrid on Wednesday.

"You know what has been the most beautiful thing from being a coach at this level, that is [for] both me and my colleagues, is that what you think today is valid today, maybe tomorrow but not for after tomorrow because the opponents adapt constantly," he said in a pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

Enrique has a point. This time a year ago, World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe was settling into life at Real Madrid after seven seasons with PSG, some of the sport's most illustrious prizes seemingly waiting for him. So far, the grass has not been greener on the other side — Madrid are trophyless since Mbappe arrived, marred by an imbalanced squad and an inability to find any cohesion when Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo were on the pitch at the same time. Those failures are not an accurate reflection of Mbappe's talents, nor of Carlo Ancelotti, the manager who was first tasked with finding that balance.

As Xabi Alonso inherits that unenviable task, though, Enrique is quick to remind that Mbappe is no longer his concern.

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"What I can say is that it's in the past," Enrique said, repeating some version of this refrain several times as he fielded a handful of questions about Mbappe. "I don't have anything else to add to that."

Enrique was being both polite and honest. The PSG manager, like many, refrains from speaking about other teams' players at length, but Mbappe also feels like old news at this point for the French champions. Since his departure, PSG have a new look that was the foundation of their run to win the trophy that once eluded them and still escapes Mbappe's reach — the UEFA Champions League. Enrique and his players have spent the last few days going back and forth debating who made the secret sauce, the players choosing him and him picking the players in return. Things are as nice as they could be for PSG, France's first treble winners who are now the team to beat at the Club World Cup.

PSG may have once been the team that hoarded superstars like Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar, but making Enrique's system the star has been the move that reaped the most rewards. Enrique's unique, intense, attack-minded team are difficult to play against from kickoff, overwhelming teams on the wings first before outnumbering defenses when it is time to score goals. This setup has gotten the best out of world class players like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, up-and-comers like Joao Neves and veterans who have long awaited their moments in the sun like Ousmane Dembele. Enrique may be the mastermind behind it but he is no puppet master, ceding the credit to his players.

"The greatness of PSG is that every day, I control less and less things and that has a deeper meaning than just the headline that you will use tomorrow: 'Luis Enrique does not control anything,'" he said. "That is true. That is the greatness – the less I control, the more chances I have [of] the opponents not knowing what we are going to do and more chances that they take longer to adapt, and when they do adapt, it will be my task as a coach with my staff to try and find our way out of that so that we can make things unpredictable. That is our goal as a team."

It makes them the clear favorites against Real Madrid, something that may have been difficult to envision a year ago when Mbappe swapped one club for the other. Five games into Alonso's tenure as Real Madrid's manager and weeks after promising to take the team in a more modern tactical direction that resembles his Bayer Leverkusen side, there are still plenty of unknowns about them.

"First of all, I think it's very difficult to analyze this Real Madrid," Enrique said. "Xabi Alonso is barely starting his work at Real Madrid so it's difficult to analyze and to assess what exactly Real Madrid is these days. What we do know is that they're very strong individually, but as I said, they're only getting started with Xabi Alonso as a head coach so it's always difficult to train a major team but I believe Xabi Alonso has everything that he needs to rise to the challenge of this club."

That includes a new version of the same problem that Ancelotti dealt with — finding a natural place for Mbappe. Rodrygo may be on his way out but Mbappe has played a limited role at the Club World Cup after battling gastroenteritis at the start of the competition, though the rise of Gonzalo Garcia has not helped. The once unknown 21-year-old has seized the opportunity in front of him, scoring four goals and notching one assist in five games and likely earning a spot on Madrid's first team for the upcoming season. Alonso may have placed him alongside Vinicius out of necessity but the two have paired well, raising real questions about the size of Mbappe's role in a match in which he is, like it or not, the focal point.

His status for Wednesday is still unknown. He has played less than an hour in the knockouts, missing the entire group stage while battling back from his illness and Alonso said after their quarterfinal win over Borussia Dortmund that Mbappe was still not 100%. Alonso was also unable to offer an update on the France international's status on Tuesday, Real Madrid's pre-match media availability canceled after their flight from their base camp in the Miami suburbs to the New York metropolitan area was delayed.

The immediate question facing Alonso is if Mbappe can break into the lineup with just two matches separating them from Real Madrid's first major trophy since the 2024 Champions League, one that could offer clues at how the new manager will answer the year-old question of where the France international actually fits into the tactical set-up.

It is one of many distinctions to make between Real Madrid and PSG, who headline a match that feels like an exercise in contrasts – and not only because one team has Mbappe and the other does not. PSG feel like a complete package while Real Madrid are, understandably, still raw. No matter last year's circumstances, the situation favors PSG on Wednesday at MetLife Stadium – unless, of course, the unpredictable happens.

"We come from two very different situations," Enrique said. "We have a coach that's been here for two years and a new coach. These are two totally different scenarios. The beauty of football is that football doesn't know about favorites or underdogs or starting projects or finishing projects or projects which are at its prime. The football knows about 90 minutes, 120 minutes where each team needs to showcase their skills and that is what makes football great. It is impossible to predict what will happen and that any small detail can tip the balance and turn the game on its head. I think it's going to be a thrilling game for football fans and also for each team's fans and I think tomorrow, we will see a beautiful match."