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Man City in Champions League Peril After Collapse at PSG

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Man City in Champions League Peril After Collapse at PSG
Erling Haaland sums up Manchester City's mood after defeat in Paris

What was unthinkable at the start of the season will now be troubling the thoughts of a manager and team in danger of elimination before the last 16.

BBC | Manchester City's chances of Champions League progress are in peril after they lost a two-goal lead to slump to defeat against Paris St-Germain at Parc des Princes.

On a torrid, rain-lashed night in Paris, all the frailties that have haunted City in a season of decline were laid bare as Pep Guardiola's side crumbled dramatically in the face of PSG's pace and creation.

City's defeat means they risk elimination from the Champions League as they stand 25th in the table, having to win their final game at home to Club Brugge next Wednesday.

It was pure theatre in Paris after Manchester City looked to have turned the game in their favour when substitute Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland struck twice in the first eight minutes of the second half.

PSG, however, had City's defence living on its nerves all night and hit back instantly when substitute Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola levelled the game before the hour.

Dembele then struck the bar before the outstanding Joao Neves headed home Vitinha's free-kick after being left unmarked, and City's agony was compounded in stoppage time when, after a lengthy video assistant referee (VAR) check, Goncalo Ramos' powerful strike gave the scoreline a more realistic appearance.

City barely deserved the lead that close finishes from Grealish and Haaland had given them, but PSG's power, pace and quality enabled the dramatic comeback that deepened the gloom surrounding the Premier League champions this season.

Guardiola's Manchester City of old would have completed the job after going two up. Not this version. Not the version that has lost eight points from winning positions in the Champions League and 14 in the Premier League.

When City lost a 3-0 lead in 16 minutes to draw at home to Feyenoord in November, it was regarded as freak occurance, a cruising team taking its eye of the ball.

It was not. This Manchester City is the team that cannot be trusted.

Further compelling evidence of their current lack of character and capacity to meltdown came when they conceded two goals in the last two minutes to lose the derby to Manchester United.

This was different. This was far more disturbing as PSG showed heart when 2-0 down, simply overpowering City who were a pale shadow of a once all-conquering team. Even Guardiola was forced to admit: "We could not cope."

It was a pitiful, barely believable, surrender as City were too slow through the central areas, ripped apart on the flanks and generally given the sort of comprehensive going over they used to hand out, as opposed to being the recipient of.

In a PSG barrage, City faced 26 shots - the highest total against them since the Champions League game against Real Madrid in September 2012 when the Spaniards had 35.

The sight of Matheus Nunes - an attacking operator - at right-back, with Kyle Walker close to completing a move to AC Milan, demonstrated the sort of muddled thinking that has clouded City and Guardiola's season, a flaw which requires addressing.

He was all at sea, as was another substitute Rico Lewis, as PSG rampaged through the wide areas at will, with Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue and substitute Ousmane Dembele leaving a trail of destruction behind them.

This loss was, however, a collective failure of manager and team as City threatened to fall apart, then did as they conceded four goals for the first time in a game since they lost 5-2 at home to Leicester City in September 2020.

Even after going 2-0 up, City never looked in any form or condition to manage the game. Guardiola regards possession as nine tenths of football's law - here they were guilty of criminal negligence, with Dembele's goal three minutes after Haaland's second a major turning point.

Guardiola, as he stood soaked and stunned on the sidelines, powerless to prevent a defeat which should have been far more emphatic, may now realise he has an even bigger rebuilding job on his hands than he thought.

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