Manchester City lost 4-2 to Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad in the Champions League, according to Sky Sports, with Pep Guardiola watching from the stands. PSG scored three times before half-time to take control of the match. Erling Haaland scored twice after the interval for the home side.
Sky Sports reports that Guardiola sat alongside high-ranking club executives, including chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano. The match was City's first Champions League outing since the Premier League delivered its guilty verdict against the club. City deny the charges of financial rule-breaking.
Why it matters
The result positions PSG, the reigning back-to-back European champions, as the stronger side on the night, per Sky Sports. Sky Sports described Luis Enrique's team as breathtaking in the first half, controlling the game with and without the ball.
For City, the defeat is their first of the season. Sky Sports noted that the club's players appeared focused on the match despite the uncertainty surrounding them. The report added that the loss carries fairly insignificant jeopardy in terms of the competition itself, given the chances and goals produced.
PSG's first-half blitz
Desire Doue opened the scoring from range, according to Sky Sports. Ousmane Dembele doubled the lead 99 seconds later, finishing a team move. Vitinha then made it 3-0 before the break with a powerful finish from Warren Zaire-Emery's flick.
Enzo Maresca, City's manager, said after the game that teams struggle if they do not go toe-to-toe with opponents of PSG's quality. Sky Sports quoted him saying his side had to be braver, and that they were braver in the second half.
Haaland's two goals after the interval pulled the score back to 3-2 and made the result more respectable, Sky Sports reported. City also hit the woodwork twice in a second half that grew more frantic and transitional. The report said City did to PSG in the second period what had been done to them in the first.
Donnarumma's error and a late penalty
Gianluigi Donnarumma's poor handling allowed Maghnes Akliouche to score PSG's fourth goal, per Sky Sports. Donnarumma later made amends by saving a poor penalty attempt from Ferran Torres.
Sky Sports reported that PSG were the better team overall and deserved the win, but noted that the scoreline could have been reversed on another night given the chances City missed.
Maresca described the match as strange. He said two goals in two minutes created problems for his side, and that they were dead in the game before improving after half-time. He added that his feeling is that City are close, and that the team can learn from the defeat and move on.
Sky Sports also noted that City and PSG were among the earliest clubs to fall foul of UEFA's financial rules in 2014. Before combining to win three of the past four Champions League titles, the two clubs had won none of the previous 67, according to the report. Each lost their first Champions League final, PSG to Bayern Munich in 2020 and City to Chelsea the following year.
The report added that City's fans have stood by the club during difficult periods before and have promised to do so again. Sky Sports observed that supporters might not see their team in the competition next year.
What happens next for City in the competition, and how the club handles the ongoing financial case, will continue to draw attention.
