Manchester City were three goals down inside 32 minutes on their return to the Etihad Stadium, beaten 4-2 by Paris St-Germain on Wednesday night in front of a record European home crowd of 60,021 — and somehow left the pitch to an ovation. Desire Doue (13), Ousmane Dembele (15) and Vitinha (32) had already settled it before Erling Haaland’s second-half double dragged City back into a game they never truly threatened to win. Watching from the directors’ box, alongside chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano, was Pep Guardiola, back at the ground he left in May after a decade in charge.
Thirty-two minutes of PSG at their most ruthless
The Champions League holders needed 10 first-half shots, seven of them on target, to finish the contest. Doue cut inside to open the scoring, Dembele doubled it 103 seconds later, and Vitinha’s strike made it the first time City have conceded three before half-time at home in Europe since 2015. By the end it was also the first time City had shipped four or more at home in any European competition.
Enzo Maresca’s response was to invert his full-backs, push Haaland higher and gamble. It nearly worked. Haaland glanced in Iliman Ndiaye’s cross on 53 minutes, City struck the woodwork twice, and Matvei Safonov made two saves of genuine quality. But PSG’s fourth arrived on 62 minutes, Maghnes Akliouche’s shot looping off Gianluigi Donnarumma’s hand, high into the air and back over the line. Haaland’s second on 75 was consolation of the most statistically remarkable kind, and Donnarumma redeemed himself by saving Ferran Torres’ penalty three minutes from time.
City’s 2.57 expected goals — 1.78 of it after the break — tells you they played well for 45 minutes. PSG’s two games tell you something starker:
- 10 goals in their opening two league-phase matches, after a 6-1 win over Slovan Bratislava — no club had reached double figures that quickly in the competition’s history
- Six points from six, top of the league phase table; City sit on three
- Haaland now has 38 Champions League goals for City in 41 appearances, passing Sergio Aguero’s 36 in 64
- His 61 goals in 60 European appearances make him the fastest to 60 in the competition’s history, ahead of Lionel Messi, and the youngest to the mark at 26 years and 86 days
- One Champions League goal every 80 minutes — the best rate anyone has managed
Why the night was about more than the scoreline
This was City’s first home match since an independent commission found them guilty, on 29 September, of serious Premier League financial breaches covering the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons — including a scheme that inflated declared sponsorship revenue by £830.69m. City are appealing, and sanctions will be set at a separate hearing. Nothing has been decided, which is precisely why the pre-match choreography mattered so much to the people who staged it.
There were fireworks. There was a highlights reel on the big screens that reached back beyond 2008 as well as forward to Aguero’s 93:20, and a banner across the South Stand reading: “I know I am, I’m sure I am, I’m City til I die.” The message was that the club’s history is not on trial, whatever the commission found about its accounts. It was answered, in a sense, by Luis Enrique — a close friend of Guardiola’s — who said before the game that City “deserve those trophies” on the basis of what happened on the pitch.
Guardiola’s presence complicated the sentiment rather than resolving it. He is now a City Football Group global ambassador, not a manager, and he spent much of the evening so animated that he looked ready to join Maresca on the touchline. Every trophy under scrutiny from 2011 onwards is partly his. He had no way to influence this one.
Maresca’s first defeat, and what comes next
Maresca, appointed on 29 June to succeed the manager he once assisted during the treble, had won all eight of his games in charge. He did not hide behind the circumstances. “Against this kind of team it’s already difficult when you are 0-0, and then in two minutes…” he said, before adding the line that will define his approach: “If you don’t go toe-to-toe, you struggle.” He thought City “were much better” after his changes, and he has a point — but the fix required is structural, not motivational, because PSG exposed how high a City midfield built for possession can be pressed.
Three points from two matches still leaves City comfortably placed in a 36-team league phase where 10 or 11 points usually secures a top-eight finish and a bye into the last 16. PSG, meanwhile, look exactly like a side defending a European Cup. Enrique kept his perspective: “It’s not important to be the best in the competition now, it’s important to be the best in the final.” City’s immediate problem is simpler. They must prove that an hour of defiance can become 90 minutes of control — and do it while waiting to learn what the commission’s verdict will cost them.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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