Manchester City let another lead slip as they succumbed to a 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
PSG was outstanding at home, but at the beginning of the second half, they found themselves two goals behind. An instant reaction brought the Park of the Princes back and they eventually roared past their puny visitors.
It was an unforgettable night for Luis Enrique and his team, but there is still work to do if they are to secure a place in the play-offs. City’s defeat means they have slipped out of the top 24 in the league table and are at serious risk of relegation Champions League before the knockout phase.
How the match unfolded
The strikers were in town with Paris Fashion Week underway, although Thomas Tuchel and Didier Deschamps are unlikely to be seen on the catwalk after enjoying Wednesday night’s Champions League game.
It was a wet Parisian evening, one Owen Wilson (or, at least, his character in Midnight in Paris) may have enjoyed a stroll, but the conditions made for some wonderful sequences of football between two highly technical teams.
PSG were brilliant throughout the first period, and their intensity without the ball unsettled a City side who have recently shown signs of rediscovering their attacking prowess. PSG’s pressing pushed the visitors long, but the direct ball gave the hosts a problem or two early on. Gianluigi Donnarumma, however, was only forced to make routine stops.
PSG’s rush to clear possession was matched by their exuberance, but their exciting wide players initially lacked confidence in the final third. So, their best chance in the first half came from a set-piece after Fabian Ruiz had an attempt cleared off the line by Josko Guardiol. Enrique’s side then thought they were 1-0 up just before half-time, but Achraf Hakimi’s goal was ruled out after Nuno Mendes strayed offside in the build-up.
Interval changes by both managers suggested neither was particularly happy with what transpired in the opening third, and one of Guardiola’s men, Jack Grealish, made an immediate impact when he broke the deadlock with an emphatic close-range finish.
Grealish was involved again minutes later when City doubled their lead through Erling Haaland. Matheus Nunes was responsible for breaking PSG’s pressure, driving through the heart of the Parisians’ defensive structure before heading Grealish’s cross.
City’s early second-half surge sucked the life out of a previously fiery Parc des Princes, but Bradley Barcola offered hope to the hosts as he took down Nunes with a fine piece of skill, slotted into the box and brought on second substitute Ousmane Dembele to halve their deficit. The young French winger gave PSG the equalizer after a great turnover, with Barcola tapping home the rebound.
The Cityzens’ problems from the first half against PSG’s journalists manifested themselves in the sequel, and the hosts must have smelled blood. Guardiola’s changes seemed to disrupt the visitors, who could not escape Parisien’s pressure amid a cacophony of persistent howls from the ultras. Their capitulation was complete in the closing stages when the magnificent Joao Neves struck at the back post before Goncalo Ramos added a fourth in injury time after City failed to muster any response.
Check out the player ratings for PSG 4-2 Man City here.
It’s been a long time since these two treble-winning Barcelona managers faced off on the sidelines. Their last encounter came during Guardiola’s first campaign at City, but the most memorable encounter came when Guardiola took his Bayern Munich to the Camp Nou for the first leg of the 2014/15 Champions League semi-final against Enrique’s Barca, losing 3-0 to the Catalans inspired by ‘MSN’- om.
The current iterations of their squads are far from the best any manager has coached, but that didn’t detract from Wednesday night’s tactical spectacle.
PSG’s man-to-man pressure burdened City in the first half and their collective effort was a testament to Enrique’s coaching. They were superbly coached, but the hosts were neither brave nor ruthless enough to capitalize on the failures they were creating against City’s defence.
Guardiola’s substitutions swung the contest in the visitors’ favor after half-time, but Enrique’s change – Dembele for Kang – ensured PSG had more of a threat. The Frenchman brought PSG back into the game, and PSG had more success when he had two wings constantly holding the width which mercilessly tested City’s full-backs. Their superb work out of possession came back to the fore after that, with their energy refusing to let up, and they managed to hit Guardiola’s side deep before Neves headed home to take the lead.
This has to be Enrique’s most impressive night in Paris. His PSG team looked naïve, one-dimensional and light at times against star-studded opposition, but they were better than Guardiola’s team in almost every aspect on Wednesday night.
This once supreme power did not mind losing points from winning positions. Brentford only recently came back from 2-0 down late on to claim a point against City, with Guardiola’s side dropping a total of 14 points Premier League and five more in this contest before tonight.
Who can forget the capitulation against Feyenoord?
Without their stabilizing striker in the bottom of the midfield. Cities are prone to collapse. The Parc des Princes were tamed after Grealish and Haaland helped them to a 2-0 lead, but they were subjected to a moment of magic from Barcola that brought PSG back into the game straight away. Regaining control would be their goal with PSG’s tails suddenly raised again, but then Mateo Kovačić, the man who was primarily supposed to relieve Rodrigo’s absence, succumbed to the pressure of the home team, gifted the ball away, and Barcola eventually equalized.
A lack of openings and ball carriers allowed PSG to suffocate after restoring parity, and the hosts always looked the more likely to score a fifth goal of the contest, completing City’s collapse.
It looked like it would be PSG with all the work to do in Round 8, but City’s rapid decline and subsequent defeat means it’s Guardiola’s men who must win next week to just progress to the play-off round.
The 2023 winners are winless in four league games and have fallen to 25th in the table. They are two points behind Stuttgart, who PSG face next week, in the last place in the play-offs. So just a win will be enough against a Club Brugge side that cannot be underestimated at the Etihad. All but City will unthinkably leave Europe before February.
PSG’s incredible comeback has taken them up to 22nd, but they are far from safe. They still have their work cut out for them in Stuttgart given their lead over City in the table by just two points. A point should be enough, but a loss in Germany will probably make this win irrelevant.
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