Paris Saint-Germain beat Manchester City 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, scoring three times in the first 32 minutes before Erling Haaland's double set up a spirited but unsuccessful fightback.
Haaland's first goal made him City's record scorer in the Champions League, passing Sergio Agüero, but Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé, Vitinha and Maghnes Akliouche gave the holders the points. Gianluigi Donnarumma saved a late Ferran Torres penalty against his former club.
Match facts
- Result: Manchester City 2-4 Paris Saint-Germain (half-time 0-3)
- Competition: UEFA Champions League, League Phase, Matchday 2
- Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
- Scorers: Manchester City - Haaland 53', 75'; Paris Saint-Germain - Doué 13', Dembélé 15', Vitinha 32', Akliouche 63'
- Assists: Manchester City - Ndiaye (53'), Bouaddi (75'); Paris Saint-Germain - Fabián Ruiz (13'), Doué (15'), Zaïre-Emery (32'), Dembélé (63')
- Red cards: None
- Player of the match: Vitinha
- Next: City host Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday and AEK Athens in the Champions League on Tuesday 20 October; PSG host Barcelona on Tuesday 20 October
How the match unfolded
City were playing their first home game since being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules, with former manager Pep Guardiola back at the Etihad for the first time, as our Man City vs PSG preview had flagged.
Enzo Maresca's side started brightly. City appealed for a penalty when Marquinhos challenged Rayan Cherki inside the box, but VAR did not intervene, and from a corner Matvey Safonov punched the ball against his own crossbar before a foul was given against Marc Guéhi.
PSG then struck twice in two minutes. In the 13th minute Doué finished a quick break, set up by Fabián Ruiz, with a low shot from the edge of the area. Two minutes later Doué crossed to the far post and Dembélé headed in.
Achraf Hakimi headed against the post and, in the 32nd minute, Vitinha made it 3-0 with a clinical finish after neat link-up between Akliouche and Warren Zaïre-Emery. Donnarumma kept the score there with saves from Vitinha and Hakimi, while Joško Gvardiol headed wide and Jérémy Doku forced a save from Safonov just before the break.
Maresca made three changes at half-time, sending on Iliman Ndiaye, Matheus Nunes and Ayyoub Bouaddi for Doku, Rúben Dias and Cherki. City were transformed. Ndiaye forced a point-blank save, and in the 53rd minute his cross was flicked in by Haaland.
PSG restored their three-goal cushion with their first shot of the second half. In the 63rd minute Akliouche's strike from Dembélé's pass was initially stopped by Donnarumma, only for the ball to drop behind him and into the net.
City kept pushing. Enzo Fernández hit the post, Haaland headed against the bar and Gvardiol had a header cleared off the line. In the 75th minute Haaland finished Bouaddi's low cross for his second.
Safonov denied Haaland a hat-trick with a close-range save. Late on, Matheus Nunes was penalised for a foul on Nuno Mendes and, after a VAR check, Torres stepped up in the 90th minute, only for Donnarumma to save.
Haaland passes Agüero
According to Manchester City, Haaland's header was his 37th Champions League goal for the club, one more than Agüero's 36, and came in just 41 games. His second took his overall tally in the competition to 61, which the club says moves him up to seventh on the all-time list.
City said the crowd of 60,021 was a club record for a European home game. The defeat was City's first in eight matches.
What comes next
PSG have two wins from two after their 6-1 opening win over Slovan Bratislava. They also beat Le Mans 3-1 in Ligue 1 last weekend (report). City, who won 2-0 at Porto on Matchday 1 and won 3-0 at Liverpool on Sunday, host Ipswich at 15:00 UK on Saturday and AEK Athens at 20:00 UK on Tuesday 20 October.
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