Manchester City were beaten 4-2 by a majestic Paris Saint-Germain side as Pep Guardiola watched on from the stands in an enthralling Champions League encounter.
The reigning back-to-back European champions were keen to make their power known early at the Etihad, in a game that made clear where the greater concentration of quality resides. Luis Enrique’s side were breathtaking in the first half, a masterclass in effortless control with and without the ball.
Desire Doue scored from range. Ousmane Dembele rounded off a wonderful team move for two. And Vitinha finished a brilliant first 45 minutes with a thumping finish from Warren Zaire-Emery’s instinctive flick.
Former Man City manager Pep Guardiola was in the stands for the first time since leaving the club
A pair of Erling Haaland goals made the scoreline respectable after the interval, and City were good value for their breakthroughs, doing to PSG what had been done to them in the first period.
Despite wave after wave of attack, Gianluigi Donnarumma was in the spotlight most often, his poor handling gifting Maghnes Akliouche and the visitors a fourth, before denying Ferran Torres’ woeful penalty attempt.
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As well as being two of the earliest clubs to fall foul of UEFA’s financial rules back in 2014, Man City and PSG shared one other thing in common before combining to win three of the past four Champions League titles: They had won none of the previous 67.
Each lost their first Champions League final – PSG to Bayern in 2020 and Man City the following year to Chelsea. But with both clubs backed by free-spending owners from the Middle East, boasting some of the most talented squads in world football, that deficiency has since become a surplus.
With Man City now fighting against charges of financial rule-breaking on a domestic front, all of which the club deny, the decision was made for a show of unity on home turf. Guardiola was flanked by the majority of City’s high-ranking executives in the terraces, including Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and CEO Ferran Soriano.
Manchester City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and CEO Ferran Soriano in the stands before kick off
They will have seen plenty they liked on the pitch, City’s players appearing laser-focused on the job at hand despite the cloud of uncertainty that surrounds them. Ultimately, this is a defeat of fairly insignificant jeopardy where chances and goals made for a superb watch between two European contenders.
The world of football will continue to tune in to see how City handle whatever might come next. Whenever that might be.
