There was an air of defiance about Manchester City, an arrogance that comes naturally to those who have developed a false sense of victimhood. Then again, they were not exactly wrong to boast some level of confidence – even if the Premier League found them guilty of 115 financial breaches, City had assembled a team that would at the very least contend in matches worth watching, even if the results could become invalidated in the not-too-distant future. City's supporters, Pep Guardiola included, filled Etihad Stadium on Wednesday with an expectation that the players on the pitch would not sour the mood, no matter that the guilty verdict suggests the collection of talent should not actually be there.
Instead, what the stubborn onlookers got was a dose of reality. In some ways, it is not a surprise that back-to-back UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain would use Wednesday's game as another opportunity to assert their dominance with a 4-2 win. Their unique brand of dynamism is still a defining feature, one that is still hard to beat two years after manager Luis Enrique's tactical reinvention.
Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue are still impressively clinical, Vitinha still amongst the world's best in midfield. What was genuinely impressive, though, is that they were unflinching on a day that tested City's sporting construction. The hosts ultimately outshot PSG 27 to 15, racking up 2.5 expected goals while the European champions only tallied up 1.83.
City's end product matched their efforts, Erling Haaland once again assuming cheat code mode with a brace that kept his side in the game while becoming the club's top goalscorer in the competition. Their defensive resolve failed the tests PSG posed time and time again on Wednesday, though, defined by a mistake-ridden performance from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. The Italy international has always been a respectable option in goal but at 27 years old, he does not seem on pace to become one of his generation's top options.
His inability to respond to Doue's opener in the 13th minute and Dembele's goal two minutes later was surprising, almost single-handedly digging his team into a hole they could barely dig themselves out of. It was a recurring theme over the course of 90 minutes, even as he saved Ferran Torres' tame penalty in the 90th minute. TWO IN TWO MINUTES FOR PSG 😮💨Désiré Doué with the goal and the assist 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OKjsesexlN Donnarumma was hardly the only person to blame for City's woes on Wednesday.
Head coach Enzo Maresca opted to use Elliot Anderson as the lone player in midfield while just about everyone in front of him took a more advanced position, an imbalanced approach that was misguided from the start. It did not get the best out of anyone, PSG taking a 3-0 lead by halftime while City took just six shots and mustered 0.79 expected goals at that point. Maresca's halftime decision to bring on Ayyoub Bouaddi for Jeremy Doku and offer Anderson some assistance in midfield was to City's benefit but at that point, it was far too late.
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