Paris Saint-Germain came from behind to defeat Manchester City 4-2 in a thrilling UEFA Champions League league-phase encounter, recovering from a three-goal deficit to claim an impressive victory on Wednesday.
City appeared to be in control after racing into a 3-0 lead before half-time, but the defending European champions produced a remarkable second-half response to turn the contest around and leave the hosts empty-handed.
Desire Doué opened the scoring for PSG in the 13th minute, finishing off an assist from Fabián Ruiz to give the visitors an early advantage.
The French side doubled their lead just two minutes later when Ousmane Dembélé found the net, with Doué providing the assist as PSG capitalised on City’s defensive vulnerability.
PSG continued to dominate and extended their advantage in the 32nd minute through Vitinha, who converted after being set up by Warren Zaïre-Emery to put the visitors firmly in control.
Manchester City went into the half-time break trailing 3-0, facing the prospect of a damaging defeat unless they could produce a significant improvement after the restart.
Erling Haaland gave the hosts hope in the 53rd minute when he pulled a goal back, finishing off a move involving Iliman Ndiaye to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
City appeared to have gained momentum, but PSG restored their three-goal advantage in the 63rd minute through Maghnes Akliouche, who scored from Dembélé’s assist to make it 4-1.
The goal dealt another blow to City’s hopes of mounting a comeback, although the hosts continued to push forward in search of a response.
Haaland struck again in the 75th minute, converting an opportunity created by Ayyoub Bouaddi to bring the score to 4-2 and give City renewed hope of salvaging something from the contest.
Despite their late efforts, the Premier League side could not find another goal, as PSG held firm to secure a memorable victory away from home.
A late penalty incident involving Ferran Torres in the 90th minute was reviewed by the video assistant referee (VAR), but the score remained unchanged at 4-2.
The result underlined PSG’s attacking quality and resilience, particularly their ability to recover after conceding twice in the opening stages and withstand City’s second-half pressure.
For Manchester City, the defeat will raise questions about their defensive organisation after conceding four goals in a match in which they had initially established a commanding advantage.
Full-time: Manchester City 2-4 Paris Saint-Germain.
