PSG beat Man City 4-2 in Champions League thriller

Paris Saint-Germain score three first-half goals, but Erling Haaland brace nearly drags Manchester City back in UCL.

Paris Saint-Germain further soured the mood at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City’s first home game since the guilty verdict on widespread flouting of Premier League financial rules ended in a 4-2 Champions League defeat on Wednesday.

But City stormed back in the second half as Erling Haaland scored twice on either side of Maghnes Akliouche’s strike, which briefly restored PSG’s three-goal cushion.

City shrugged off the uncertainty over their future to win 3-0 at Liverpool on Sunday and remain top of the Premier League, but PSG showed why they are the favourites to win this competition for a third consecutive season.

City made passing reference to the guilty verdict with a lengthy pre-match video detailing the club’s historic moments of celebration both before and after an Abu Dhabi-backed takeover in 2008 that transformed their fortunes.

Yet the fighting talk in the stands didn’t match the on-field action as City were blown away by a scintillating first 45 minutes from the visitors.

Gianluigi Donnarumma had a point to prove after the Italian goalkeeper was let go by the PSG coach just months after helping deliver the club’s first Champions League title in 2025.

Donnarumma was caught out at his near post by Doue’s outside-the-box effort after a lightning counter-attack to open the scoring.

Achraf Hakimi hit the post before Vitinha rattled in PSG’s third from the edge of the box.

Antoine Semenyo and Enzo Fernandez missed glaring chances to pull a goal back even before Haaland glanced home a header from Iliman Ndiaye’s cross.