Man City brought down to earth by holders PSG in 4-2 home defeat
Manchester City were swept aside in the first half by Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, and although Erling Haaland scored twice after the break, the defending champions held on to win 4-2 in the Champions League.
It was City’s first home match since being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules, with Pep Guardiola watching from the stands. Home fans held up a display reading CTID and booed the Champions League anthem, creating a charged atmosphere for Enzo Maresca’s side.
City arrived on a five-match winning run, having beaten Liverpool 3-0 on Sunday. PSG, who thrashed Slovan Bratislava 6-1 on matchday one, made eight changes, with Dembele, Doue, Vitinha and Nuno Mendes returning.
City began fired up. Rayan Cherki went down after tangling with Marquinhos in the 12th minute, but neither referee nor VAR saw a penalty. Matvey Safonov then punched a corner onto his own crossbar, and Antoine Semenyo’s follow-up flew over.
PSG then struck on a lightning-fast counter-attack. Desire Doue opened the scoring in the 13th minute, beating Gianluigi Donnarumma at his near post, then lifted a cross to the far post two minutes later for Ousmane Dembele to head in, stunning the home supporters.
The visitors kept City chasing shadows in midfield. Achraf Hakimi hit the post before Warren Zaire-Emery backheeled into Vitinha’s path in the 32nd minute, and the Portuguese midfielder’s shot slipped through Donnarumma’s hand to make it 3-0 and silence the Etihad.
Jeremy Doku forced a routine save from Safonov as the half ended 3-0 to PSG. Maresca responded with three substitutions at the interval, replacing captain Ruben Dias, Cherki and Doku with Iliman Ndiaye, Matheus Nunes and Ayyoub Bouaddi, and City looked a different side.
The changes worked at once. Ndiaye crossed from the left and Erling Haaland guided a header home eight minutes after the restart. Semenyo then lobbed Safonov, but his effort struck the bar, and Haaland swung at the follow-up and missed.
Semenyo was booked in the 62nd minute for a wild lunge at Dembele, and PSG restored their three-goal lead soon after when Donnarumma parried Maghnes Akliouche’s shot, only for the ball to loop up, drop behind him and bounce into the net.
Zaire-Emery’s rash challenge on Elliot Anderson led to a free kick that Josko Gvardiol flicked towards goal before Nuno Mendes cleared off the line. Haaland then struck first time into the bottom corner from Ayyoub Bouaddi’s square pass to make it 4-2.
PSG introduced Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos for Dembele and Akliouche in the 78th minute, and Safonov denied Haaland a hat-trick in the 85th, diving to block a low cross that the striker stretched to direct goalwards. It would have set up a tense finish.
PSG won a penalty in the 87th minute when Nuno Mendes went down under a challenge from Matheus Nunes, and VAR upheld the decision despite very minor contact. Ferran Torres’s spot kick was tame and at a comfortable height for Donnarumma, who saved it.
Four minutes were added, and City could not find a third. PSG ended City’s five-match winning run and extended their unbeaten streak against English opponents to 12 games, while the holders collected a second win from two Champions League matches.