5 Things we learned from PSG’s thrilling win over Man City

1. Just in case you forgot just how good this PSG team is, they’re pretty damn good. Whilst they haven’t started off the season in brilliant fashion it’s easy to forget just how special this side are, they weren’t fancied by many today to win but they put a real statement performance in the first half that won them the game. It took 13 minutes for the Champions League holders to open the scoring after some brilliant football playing out from the back led Fabian Ruiz to play the ball out to Desire Doue on the left who stood up Khusanov before firing into Donnarumma’s near-post to put PSG 0-1 up early on, barely even a minute later PSG doubled their lead as Ousmane Dembele launched the ball out to Doue on the left who returned the favour playing a brilliant cross to the back-post where the current Ballon d’Or holder headed the French side 0-2 in front. City were getting torn apart and in the 31st minute went three goals behind as Akliouche played the ball back to Zaire-Emery who backheeled the ball to Vitinha just inside the box who fired PSG 0-3 up in one of the best halves of football I’ve ever seen, by half-time the Etihad was stunned into silence but City did show signs that if they could get one goal back everything could change in the second half.

2. Almost a memorable comeback for City at the Etihad. Maresca made three changes at half-time bringing on Ndiaye, Bouaddi and Nunes who all had a pretty instant impact as City looked far better in the second half and were pushing early on for a goal back as Fernandez and Ndiaye missed good chances in the first five minutes, they did then get one back in the 52nd minute as Ndiaye’s floated cross was headed in brilliantly by who else but Erling Haaland to give City a lifeline early in the second half. Just as City had all the momentum in the second half PSG forayed forward as Dembele played the ball into Akliouche who turned magically before firing a shot which looked to have been expertly saved by Donnarumma before the ball bizarrely looped in the net to put PSG 1-4 up in the 62nd minute, City weren’t finished though and continued pushing for goals creating some brilliant chances that were either saved by Safanov or cleared miraculously on the line by PSG. In the 74th minute City did get another one back as Enzo Fernandez played a lovely ball through to Bouaddi on the right who pulled the ball back to Haaland in the box who swept City back in the game once again to make it 2-4, City pushed on pushed for a third that would have set up a grand stand finish but it was PSG who would get a chance to kill the game in the 86th minute after Nuno Mendes was brought down in the box by Matheus Nunes giving Enrique’s side a penalty. Ferran Torres stepped up and hit a horrific penalty straight at Donnarumma but it didn’t matter in the end as PSG saw out a memorable result at the Etihad to make it 2 wins from 2 in the Champions League.

3. You can simply never get tired of watching this PSG side. They’ve been the best team in the world for the last couple of seasons and no matter whether they are in good form or bad form they’ll still find a way to win in this competition, the first half was a complete footballing masterclass from PSG pulling City apart over and over again with some magical football that culminated in a ridiculous first goal from Doue. Press them at your pearl as they’ll play through you with ease which led to the second goal moving City side to side before Doue played a delicious ball into Dembele who scored a rare headed goal after being given some time off by Enrique last week, you couldn’t help but just be complete enamoured by the way PSG were playing in the first half and that was summed up by Zaire-Emery in midfield who ran the show in the first half on top of delivering an outrageous back-heel assist for Vitinha’s goal which killed the game in the first half. This PSG team does have a tendency to switch off at times which we’ve seen on occasion against the likes of Aston Villa, Bayern Munich and Arsenal over the past couple of seasons where they concede silly goals which I thought was going to happen again tonight but the Akliouche goal took all the pressure away thanks to Donnarumma which definitely ended the game early in the second half. When you have the luxury of bringing on Joao Neves and Kvarastkhelia in the second half you know there’s fierce competition for places in the team but when Doue and Zaire-Emery are your best performers in the game you can understand why two world-class players have to sit on the bench sometimes, overall it was a pretty unbelievable performance from PSG which sets us up beautifully for PSG vs Barcelona next week at the Parc Des Princes. I cannot wait for that one.

4. Sometimes you just have to accept you were beaten by the better team. Maresca certainly got things wrong with his team selection tonight starting Khusanov at right-back and Cherki along with Fernandez in midfield but I’m not sure they could have done much more up against the best team in the world, it was naïve from Maresca to think that a midfield of Cherki and Fernandez would work in this game which is why it probably makes it all the more painful that Bouaddi was Cities best player in the second half but it’s probably better to learn that now rather than in March and April in the knockouts. He obviously started Khusanov at right-back thinking Kvarastkhelia would be playing on the left but Doue killed the young right-back out there and was my player-of-the-match on the night so Enrique definitely outsmarted Maresca on that one, despite the score-line reading 0-3 at half-time City still created plenty of chances and had the firepower to get back into the game in the second half which they almost did if it wasn’t for a terrible mistake by Donnarumma that killed all their momentum in the second 45. Haaland continues his electric start to the season scoring his 61st Champions League goal in only his 60th game which is just outrageous, Ndiaye had a big impact in the second half but I was really disappointed with Semenyo who had a really off day on the right and ended promising City attacks multiple times over the game. Overall it was a pretty sobering night for City on the whole but they can certainly take positives from the game in the second half, I’d love to this tie over two legs come the knockouts.

5. What’s up next for these two teams? For PSG they are back in action on Saturday away to Strasbourg before going back to the Parc Des Princes for a blockbuster game against Barcelona next Tuesday which will have the whole world watching, City return to the Etihad again on Saturday up against Gary O’Neil’s Ipswich before playing AEK Athens on Tuesday also at the Etihad. Up next on here I’ll have Everton vs Chelsea and Real Betis vs Barcelona for you on Saturday so stay tuned for those reviews coming up on the weekend, should be a fun one.