Calamitous Manchester City crash towards the unthinkable as PSG strike critical Champions League blow
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Paris Saint-Germain 4-2 Manchester City: Pep Guardiola’s side could face a premature exit from European competition after another damaging defeat. Now Manchester City are found on the wrong side of the dotted line. With a game to go, they have sunk to their lowest point. Crowned officially the best team in Europe 19 months ago, the table says they are now only the 25th finest in this competition. They were not merely beaten by Paris Saint-Germain. They were battered, their flaws highlighted by the team who had looked the Champions League’s greatest underachievers.
![[Manchester City slipped even further into the mire]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/22/22/01/Manchester-City.jpeg)
City were overpowered, overrun, overcome. With a home game against Club Brugge, they can still salvage a play-off place. But if the continent’s finest used to be scared at the prospect of playing them in knockout ties, now they could be salivating. For PSG, this was a seminal, sensational comeback to cap a spectacular match. But for City, it was an unwanted encore, déjà vu all over again in the French capital. A team with a solitary point from their last four Champions League games would have nine if they could hold on to a lead. They were a goal up against Sporting CP, three to the good against Feyenoord. They went 2-0 up in Paris and had their advantage cancelled out in the space of five minutes. They creaked until Joao Neves cracked them open. He was a symbolic figure to determine the game: City lacked the zip and zest of a younger PSG in the centre of the park and a 20-year-old midfielder helped decide it, before Goncalo Ramos clinched it.
![[Bradley Barcola helped PSG launch a thrilling fightback]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/22/21/50/Bradley-Barcola-goal-PSG.jpeg)
