Heroic Parisians turn it around against City in a match to remember
At the end of an incredible encounter at a red-hot Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain managed to defeat Manchester City and relaunch themselves in the competition (4-2). Here's a look back at a crazy clash that lived up to all its promise.
Four days after a 1-2 win away to Lens in the north of France, Paris Saint-Germain were back on the European stage with the return of the Champions League. In a raucous Parc des Princes, Paris played host to the reigning English champions and one of the favourites in the competition: Manchester City. To take on the challenge, Luis Enrique lined up a central defensive pairing of captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho in front of the Paris goal guarded by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Achraf Hakimi took his place on the right flank, while Nuno Mendes was on the other side. In midfield, Vitinha was in the holding role, flanked by João Neves and Fabian Ruiz. In attack, Lee Kang-In started in a false No9 position, supported by Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola on the wings.
Despite the rain that was falling in the capital, the match got underway in a fiery atmosphere. It was the Parisians who had the first chance, Désiré Doué's powerful shot from the right-hand side of the box being cleared for a corner by Ederson (5'). The match was on, and so was the battle for the ball. The two sides alternated periods of possession, and in this game, the Rouge et Bleu proved more adept than their English counterparts. But the hardest part for Paris was to create danger in front of the Citizens' goal, without exposing themselves to their rapid attacks. Vitinha found himself on the edge of the area and saw his cross-shot deflected wide, before Josko Gvardiol cleared Fabian Ruiz's effort off the line from the corner (27').
The pressure was mounting around the Mancunian goal, thanks in particular to Achraf Hakimi, who was getting himself in good positions. But City remained dangerous on the counterattack, and Savinho's pace allowed his side to get forward quickly towards Gianluigi Donnarumma's goal, who won his duel with the Brazilian international (39'). It was a decisive save, and one from which the capital club immediately pushed forward. Nuno Mendes combined perfectly with Vitinha on the left wing, and Achraf Hakimi was on hand to finish off a superb Parisian move from the other side. The Moroccan international thought he had given the Rouge et Bleu the lead, but his goal was eventually disallowed for a fractional offside at the start of the move (45'). Despite a first half of great quality, the Parisians went into the changing rooms all square with the Sky Blues.
After a one-sided end to the first half, we had to expect a very different start to the second. Football can be unfair, and once again in this season's Champions League, Paris were about to bear witness to this. First Jack Grealish opened the scoring (50', 0-1), then Erling Haaland got one just three minutes later. The Norwegian centre-forward, who had been quiet since the start of the game, finished from point-blank range after a deflection from the Parisian rearguard (53', 0-2). But even when the fans at the Parc were left deflated, this team with a mentality of steel found a way to give them hope. Coming on at half-time in place of Lee Kang-In, Ousmane Dembélé capitalised on Bradley Barcola's excellent work on the left wing to find the net and reduce the deficit (1-2, 56').
Buoyed by their eleven warriors, the Parc roared their support once again, giving the Citizens, who had seemed untouchable just a few minutes earlier, a scare. From the left, Désiré Doué unleashed a perfectly curled shot that struck Ederson's crossbar. Bradley Barcola was lying in wait and he pounced on the ball with a low shot that ended up in the back of the net (2-2, 60'). After a quarter of an hour of madness, the suspense of the match was completely restored. From then on, it was the Rouge et Bleu who had the wind in their sails, with Ousmane Dembélé taking out Bernardo Silva with a remarkable nutmeg before unleashing a right-footed missile that hit the bar (70').
As the minutes ticked by, the Parisians kept pushing towards the Mancunians‘ goal, until João Neves headed home a Vitinha free-kick at the back post to give the club from the capital the lead (3-2, 78’). With the Parc des Princes in full voice, Luis Enrique's men kept the Sky Blues‘ under immense pressure, and Gonçalo Ramos put the final seal on the game with a curling right-footed shot into the top corner (4-2, 90’+ 3). After an incredible fightback, it was Paris Saint-Germain who came out on top and put themselves back in the play-off race, with 10 points on the board leaving them 23rd in the standings, before facing Stuttgart next week in the final round of the league phase. Paris est magique!