Real Madrid have started their International Champions Cup campaign with a 3-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in front of 86,641 supporters in Columbus.
PSG are further through their pre-season schedule than Real and their superior sharpness showed as early as the second minute when Nanitamo Ikone ran in-field from the left and after receiving the ball back off a defender, he glided past two more players before slotting the ball into the corner from 12 yards.
Moments later, Isco fired the ball marginally wide for Real before PSG defender Thiago Silva was forced to make an early exit after appearing to suffer a hip injury when committing a foul.
Real had improved after conceding the early goal and they almost found an equaliser on 18 minutes when Mateo Kovacic tried to curl the ball into the far corner, but Kevin Trapp was able to tip the shot onto the post before claiming the rebound.
Edinson Cavani nearly doubled PSG's lead when poking a Thomas Meunier cross wide of the post but the provider on that occasion then netted the goal of the match with his weaker foot as he found the top corner from 25 yards.
Five minutes later, the Belgian full-back scored his second for his new side when he fired home from close range after his initial cross had been blocked by Raphael Varane.
Real were facing a lop-sided scoreline heading into the break but shortly before half time, they were awarded a penalty when Serge Aurier handled inside the area and Marcelo made no mistake from 12 yards.
Zinedine Zidane made mass changes at the break and although his youngsters impressed after the restart, they almost conceded a fourth when Angel di Maria found the run of Cavani but his flick was straight at the goalkeeper.
Back up the other end, the highly-rated Marco Asensio looked intent on making his mark with two solid attempts on goal but after his first just evaded the far post, Trapp was equal to his second which had looked on its way towards the roof of the net.
As full time edged nearer, chances became few and far between with a fierce effort from Cavani the only opportunity of note as the game entered the final 15 minutes.
Real's Mariano Diaz Mejia had one late chance for the La Liga side but soon after that went wide, the referee blew for full time as PSG celebrated a second successive 3-1 win in the United States.
Darren Plant
