When the Champions League schedule came out, the Matchday Seven showdown between Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City looked to be a veritable clash of the titans, but I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed by its timing. Thanks to the new league-stage format, I figured that two of Europe's most expensively assembled sides would be safely through to the knockouts by this point, and that the match wouldn't have all that much riding on it.
I was wrong on two counts. First, I have to admit I did not foresee that El Gásico would be not a matchup at the top of the table, but rather a true battle of survival. Entering Wednesday's match in Paris, both clubs were in a klaxon-worthy panic, marooned in the bottom third of the 36-team table and in real jeopardy of missing the knockout round all together. My second mistake was in assuming that a PSG-City match would be anything but a banger, an intuition that seemed to bear out during the scoreless first half, only to explode into a delirious 4-2 PSG comeback win that might have been the most entertaining match of the campaign.
The stakes were simple heading into Wednesday, which might have explained the tepid nature of the first 45 minutes. A draw would keep both teams mostly alive, with winnable matches in the last day of games coming up for both of them (Stuttgart away for PSG, Brugge at home for City). A win for either side would likely guarantee survival, barring some wacky last day shenanigans.
To PSG's credit, the runaway Ligue 1 leaders came out with a bit more fire than the Sky Blues of Manchester, doing something in the first half that rarely happens, out-possessing City by a vast margin (64 percent in their favor). The shot count was similarly lopsided, with the Parisians peppering in eight unsuccessful shots to City's four. I wouldn't classify any of those shots as particularly dangerous, but PSG smartly came out on a wet night and tested City keeper Ederson over and over, in hopes the rain would make the Brazilian err. He didn't, and so the match entered half at 0-0.
It was City that would strike first, and quite quickly at that. As part of a double substitution at halftime, Pep Guardiola brought on Jack Grealish, who hadn't scored in the Champions League since 2021, looking to spark the attack into life. The Englishman didn't take long to do just that. Just five minutes after the break, a bouncing ball in the box fell to Grealish, who absolutely thunderbolted it into the goal for the long-awaited opener. Three minutes later, more good work from Grealish led to Erling Haaland adding to his impressive Champions League goalscoring record, tallying his 47th goal (in just 46 matches!) in the competition, as yet another loose ball in the box fell kindly to the Norwegian just feet from goal.
Suddenly, the freshly renewed City, so long stuck in the mud this season but riding a couple of big wins back in England over the past fortnight, looked in control. A funny thing about control in soccer, though, is that it must be fought for in every second, and City was not up for the battle. Despite possession being one of the side's main staples of play during the Guardiola era, City simply could not keep hold of the ball for long enough to neuter the opponent. PSG took the one-two punch of goals on the chin and then continued doing what it was doing in the first half, controlling the ball and probing for openings. The Parisians played an admirably patient game even down 2-0, and it eventually paid off.
Both of the first two goals went through Bradley Barcola, the 22-year-old left winger tasked, in part, with helping to replace Kylian Mbappé's production. Barcola has acquitted himself well in Ligue 1, scoring 11 goals so far this season, but he entered Wednesday without a single Champions League goal or assist, perhaps in part helping explain why PSG had been so lifeless in the competition. No matter, though, as he first assisted the hosts' opener in the 56th minute, hitting a beautiful dribble before driving at the box and spotting a wide-open Ousmane Dembélé for an easy roller of a goal. Just four minutes later, Barcola was at it again, scoring one of his own to level the tie with a rebound goal after Désiré Doué hit the crossbar.
How does one say "ass-whooping" in French? I need to know, because that's exactly what followed Barcola's equalizer. Despite the aforementioned improvement in form from City, the all-conquering English champions capitulated under PSG's renewed vigor as if they were back in their dark age of, like, a month ago. While the possession evened out somewhat in the 18 minutes that followed, PSG roared into attacking life, constantly pushing City back on counters and knocking in eight more shots in that time. The goal was coming in a way that it didn't feel all that likely in the first half, and come it did, from an unlikely source.
João Neves is tiny, even in soccer terms. He's listed at 5-foot-9, but that has always felt generous to me, and yet there he was, a diminutive midfielder throwing his head onto a 78th-minute free-kick cross that somehow evaded everyone in the box, allowing the Portuguese man to give PSG the lead and send City into a tailspin. PSG added a fourth for good measure, cementing its comeback in emphatic fashion. In the second minute of stoppage time, City defender Josko Gvardiol shouldered the ball backwards towards his goal, where PSG's Gonçalo Ramos was waiting, grabbing the loose ball and slotting a win-sealing curler past Ederson.
With the win, PSG is in a "safe" 22nd place on the table—as a refresher, the top eight go through automatically, while spots 9-24 play a two-legged knockout tie to complete the round of 16—and though 24th-placed Stuttgart will also be fighting for its life, even just a draw should be enough to put PSG through. City still has its fate in its own hands, as a win against Brugge would be enough to see them through, but anything less than a victory will see them bounced from the tournament in stunning, humiliating fashion.
Despite the excitement of the second half of Wednesday's match, it might just work out for both teams anyway, which is disappointing in its own way. Consequences for a performance as limp as City's should be real and devastating, but there might just be too much talent there to not advance to the next round, where the club, boosted by its recent flurry of signings, could reset and make a run. However, with a big helping hand from PSG, City has made its life that much harder, which at least puts them in a position to need to win its final game. Given that Wednesday's match wasn't technically a must-win, one can hope (or dread, depending on your rooting interests) that the most dominant English team of its era will get its ass in gear, or these upcoming 90 minutes will spell what previously would've been an unfathomable end to its European season.
