MANCHESTER — Paris St-Germain beat Manchester City 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium in a Champions League clash of glorious chaos as Pep Guardiola made a symbolic return to support the club's hierarchy. City returned home for the first time since being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial regulations by an independent commission, a verdict they intend to appeal, and presented an 'us against the world' front with Guardiola clad in a flat cap sitting a row behind chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano. The stand bearing his name was emblazoned with a 'CTID' — City 'Til I Die — mosaic and the build-up featured fireworks and pyrotechnics before Champions League holders PSG delivered a ruthless reality check.
Luis Enrique's side led 3-0 at half-time through Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha, a scoreline that did City a kindness after a staggering opening 45 minutes. A game that began in a wall of sound with Guardiola's name resounding around the stadium was reduced to stunned silence inside 15 minutes as City, so composed in their 3-0 win at Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, were shell-shocked on home territory and even Enzo Fernandez was left chasing shadows. With Guardiola watching with an agonised expression mirroring successor Enzo Maresca in the technical area, City were ripped apart before Maresca made three half-time changes.
To their great credit City responded superbly after the break, creating a host of chances and ensuring embarrassment was avoided in a second-half revival that gave the match its classic status. Erling Haaland gave City hope and Josko Gvardiol saw a header cleared off the line, while former City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma endured a very poor night against his old club when he saved from Maghnes Akliouche only to see the ball drop behind him into the net. Guardiola, a low-key presence in the directors' box, lived every moment, clutching his face in anguish at Gvardiol's chance and pumping his fists while remaining seated when Haaland scored.
"I really like playing against PSG because they are brave," said Maresca. "We know the way they want to press. They go man-to-man and they are very dynamic on the ball. They are the best team in Europe. They play fantastic football. But I think we are there. The reason why we struggled was because we conceded two early goals so quickly. When you are on the pitch you might think this is difficult, but in the second half we created enough to maybe deserve something. We feel sorry for the first half but I think we're quite happy now."
Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha, watching for Match of the Day, described it as "great entertainment", but "not a normal game of football". "I don't feel like both teams were going at it at the same time," he said. "In the first half, PSG were excellent and City looked really off the pace. As a consequence they were heavily punished and the game basically left them. But then in the second half they have made some changes, they have rallied, knowing they are playing in front of their own crowd and their performance had to be better." In these surroundings there was no backlash against City's Abu Dhabi-based owners despite the guilty verdict, and the spirited second half allowed fans to ramp up a frenzied atmosphere and give their team a rousing send-off at the final whistle.