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It was far from the first Champions League classic Pep Guardiola has seen at the Etihad Stadium even if Manchester City’s plight means it may prove the last.
If Guardiola’s first return to the club he managed for an increasingly controversial decade had seemed designed to provide a show of support in the wake of 114 guilty verdicts, the drama that followed suggested that it was simply a footballing choice. Guardiola witnessed something extraordinary.
There was a time when his City were Europe’s outstanding team. Now that mantle has passed to Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain. Yet even as they delivered a masterclass, City responded with a show of spirit. It may be dangerous to draw too many parallels to events off the field, where they require a still more remarkable comeback.
If nothing else, Enzo Maresca’s players illustrated that they have not abandoned hope. Guardiola’s former assistant again showed he can change games with his substitutions. A Maresca-inspired fightback prompted an apology of sorts from the victorious manager. “The team that lost today were perhaps a bit unlucky,” admitted Luis Enrique. “I think the luck was on our side.”
Nevertheless, the footballing statement came from the defending champions. “It is not important to be the best team in the competition now, it is important to be the best in the final,” shrugged Luis Enrique. But his side looked the best anyway. Theirs was an exhibition of eminence. Their first-half display may have been the best performance here in the Champions League since Guardiola’s City beat Real Madrid 4-0 in the 2023 semi-final. The broader conclusion may be that it illustrated how times have changed since then.
If City’s only route back into the Champions League is by winning it – which, given possible Premier League sanctions, could be the case – this was a reminder that PSG are the team to beat. “My feeling is we are close,” said Maresca. But even as Erling Haaland led the assault on the PSG goal in the second half, City were beaten for the fourth time in eight home Champions League games.
PSG had killed them with kindness in becoming outspoken anomalies, defending City in the wake of the independent commission’s verdict. They then eviscerated them with excellence. If it was a hugely entertaining distraction from City’s off-field issues, perhaps it was telling it came at the hands of a club who have had their own brushes with Financial Fair Play before constructing this wonderful team, though it was testament to the talents of Luis Enrique and his team as well as their considerable resources.
It said something that the outstanding player in last season’s Champions League, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, was held in reserve. They could afford to confine him to a cameo. Desire Doue starred on the left wing in his absence. He was pivotal in PSG’s devastating double, two goals in as many minutes to set them on their way. Thereafter, the action was non-stop.
It was typical of a topsy-turvy night that it ended with a penalty save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to deny Ferran Torres, with each facing his former club. PSG would not have won their maiden Champions League in 2025 without some extraordinary saves from Donnarumma in the knockout stages. But, in his first reunion with them, the Italian was arguably culpable for the opener and beaten in freakish fashion for the visitors’ fourth goal when he made a flying save from Maghnes Akliouche, only for the ball to spin in. The winger, too, showed the reigning champions have alternatives to Kvaratskhelia.
When PSG had pulled clear, Doue’s 20-yard drive defeated Donnarumma at the near post. Some 99 seconds later, they scored again courtesy of a wonderful long-range one-two from Ousmane Dembele and Doue, the elder Frenchman playing a cross-field ball to the younger and meeting his lobbed cross with a far-post header. Dembele had escaped from Marc Guehi. It was far from the only time he proved elusive; Guardiola, who had such success with a false nine at Barcelona, saw a former teammate, in Luis Enrique, borrow that tactic to great effect.
The roving right-back Achraf Hakimi felt similarly hard to track and, after he headed Doue’s cross against the post, Vitinha curled in a shot when Warren Zaire-Emery, with a backheeled flick, touched on Akliouche’s cutback.
At that stage, a rout beckoned. “We are sorry for the first half, for sure,” said Maresca. He set about remedying it. His managerial career had peaked with a tactical masterclass when his Chelsea beat PSG 3-0 in the Club World Cup final. When 3-0 down, he exerted a remarkable impact. “I really like to play against PSG,” Maresca said.
So it seemed after his half-time triple change worked, with Ayyoub Bouaddi bolstering the midfield and City suddenly creating so many chances they finished with 27 shots and 52 touches in the PSG box.
The substitute Iliman Ndiaye had an effort repelled by Matvei Safonov. He crossed when Haaland headed in, to get Guardiola clapping. It brought a reminder that PSG can look frail when put under pressure, even if Akliouche temporarily relieved it.
Yet City kept on coming. Nuno Mendes cleared Josko Gvardiol’s header off the line. City twice struck the woodwork Enzo Fernandez hitting the outside of the post and Haaland heading against the bar. The Norwegian doubled his tally from Bouaddi’s pass. Safonov, who sometimes looks an unworthy successor to Donnarumma, made a wonderful save to deny Haaland a hat-trick. “They deserved to score more than they did,” said Luis Enrique.
His side could have scored one more, Donnarumma denying Torres and PSG a fifth. With a penalty save, with the woodwork struck time and again, with six goals, this became a successor to spectacular Champions League nights here. But there may not be many more.