Paris St-Germain beat Manchester City 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium, in a match that opened with a ruthless first-half display from the Champions League holders and ended with a dramatic City fightback. It was City’s first game at home since being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial regulations.
City returned to their home ground with a defiant, “us against the world” message. Pep Guardiola, who decorated the stadium with success during a decade as manager, sat a row behind chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano in a public show of support. The Catalan was a low-key presence, wearing a flat cap, but his choice of a game certain to attract a global audience to mark his return was significant.
Guardiola is backing his former bosses to clear their name on appeal after the guilty verdict handed down by an independent commission. The stand bearing his name displayed a ‘CTID’ (City ‘Til I Die) mosaic, and the build-up to kick-off featured fireworks and pyrotechnics worthy of several rock concerts.
A devastating first half
The show of defiance soon gave way to a harsh reality check. PSG produced a brutal first half, with Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha on the scoresheet as City were ripped apart. The half-time score of 3-0 arguably flattered the hosts.
The game began in a wall of sound, with Guardiola’s name echoing around the stadium at kick-off, but it fell silent within the first 15 minutes. City, so composed at Anfield, looked shell-shocked on home territory. Even combative midfielders such as Enzo Fernandez were reduced to chasing shadows. Guardiola’s successor, Enzo Maresca, made three half-time changes.
City respond after the break
City responded superbly after the interval, creating a host of chances. They could not recover what had been lost in the first half, but their fans ramped up a frenzied atmosphere and gave the team a rousing send-off at the final whistle. Erling Haaland gave City hope, although the goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who had a poor night against his former club, saw a shot from Maghnes Akliouche saved only for the ball to drop behind him and into the net. Josko Gvardiol had a header cleared off the line, and the game finished with PSG winning 4-2.
The result came a week after City’s first step back into the spotlight, a 3-0 win at Liverpool, and the club’s supporters did not turn on their Abu Dhabi-based owners despite the serious charges they were found guilty of.
Guardiola and Maresca react
Guardiola appeared deeply engaged throughout. He clutched his face in anguish when Gvardiol’s header was cleared off the line, and he remained seated but pumped his fists when Haaland scored. Had he been a neutral observer, he would have relished the glorious chaos of the game.
Maresca felt he had seen enough to give City hope should the sides meet again later in the Champions League. “I really like playing against PSG because they are brave,” he said. “We know the way they want to press. They go man-to-man and they are very dynamic on the ball. They are the best team in Europe. They play fantastic football.
“But I think we are there. The reason why we struggled was because we conceded two early goals so quickly. When you are on the pitch you might think this is difficult, but in the second half we created enough to maybe deserve something.
“We feel sorry for the first half but I think we’re quite happy now.”
Analysis: goals, goals and more goals
Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha, speaking as a pundit, described the match as “great entertainment” but “not a normal game of football”. “I don’t feel like both teams were going at it at the same time,” he said. “In the first half, PSG were excellent and City looked really off the pace. As a consequence they were heavily punished and the game basically left them.
“But then in the second half they have made some changes, they have rallied, knowing they are playing in front of their own crowd, and their performance had to be better. So it was more aggressive and more on the front foot, and that’s why we saw those crazy scenes where it was shot after shot by City.
“If these two teams had played this game in matchweek six or seven, it would not have looked like this. There would have been more defensive solidity from both sides. But at this stage, as we have seen with some of the other games tonight, it is just goals, goals and more goals.”
Luis Enrique remains a scourge of the Premier League’s top clubs. This win over City adds to a Champions League list of victims that includes Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, the last two in a semi-final and last season’s final. He is currently master of all he surveys in Europe as the leader of this outstanding PSG side.
For Maresca and City, attention now turns back to domestic business, with a home game against Ipswich Town on Saturday. The uncertainty surrounding the club remains, with the Premier League in a state of limbo while City await sanctions and the outcome of their appeal.