Paris Saint-Germain pulled off a stunning comeback to overturn a 2-0 deficit and seal a 4-2 win against Manchester City that revived their UEFA Champions League qualification hopes and left Pep Guardiola’s team facing a humiliating exit.
Two goals in three minutes from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland at the start of the second half looked set to seal a comfortable win for City in Paris, but the home side roared back to equalise within seven minutes through Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola.
With City on the back foot and struggling to cope with PSG’s spirit and desire, Luis Enrique’s team then won the game with goals from João Neves and Gonçalo Ramos on a famous night at Parc des Princes.
It’s another one of those European nights that PSG fans will never forget. Too often, the Parisians had been on the receiving end of comebacks in their recent Champions League history. It was them with their hearts broken after having taken the lead before wasting it, but not this time.
The game might not have been make-or-break — as neither team could have been eliminated on Wednesday — but it was nevertheless crucial, and PSG showed their character, talent, and personality. This team might not have the superstars and big world-class names anymore like Neymar and Lionel Messi, but showed great heart with their talent and their energy. They also have belief too, despite their young players.
For those who believed that Manchester City’s recent mini-revival of four wins in five games had drawn a line under their slump of nine defeats in 12 games before Christmas, think again.
Guardiola’s team reverted to their old ways in Paris by throwing away a lead through complacency and a lack of being able to match the opposition for effort and desire. This was the ninth time this season that City had surrendered a winning position and failed to win the game. That is the reason they are now in such a hole in the Champions League.
Out wide, Savinho was anonymous before being replaced by Grealish at half-time, and although the England winger scored one and made one within eight minutes of coming on, he did little else. Rico Lewis was poor at left-back and Matheus Nunes was out of his depth at right-back. However, despite all of the problems, with a 2-0 lead, City should have seen the game out.
Mistakes were made and exploited, on both sides. When Manchester City were gifted two goals really by two ricochets off the Paris defence, the hosts scored their goals. They put the City defense under pressure, and in the second half, you got six goals, 23 shots (18 for PSG, five for City), nine on target, and more than three xG (expected goals) combined.
Haaland probably thought he had won the game for Manchester City when he scored a tap-in at the far post to make it 2-0 in the 53rd minute.
