The game was a tight one from the draws and City felt like the underdogs leading to the game.
PSG has players like Neymar that can singlehandedly win a game. The match started with PSG on the front foot finding spaces everywhere and City not even able to hold possession that they are known for. It was like City was suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer power of PSG. Di Maria was everywhere, Cancelo could not contain him as he was just mesmerizing and making those runs.
The first half had PSG really confident and ahead after City conceded a rather cheap goal from a Di Maria corner and a Marquinhos header. The visitors went into the dressing room behind and overwhelmed.
The second half was a different tale entirely. The would-be champions of England look rejuvenated all of a sudden. They have won 17 away games leading to this game so history and form was on their side especially knowing that PSG have also not been performing well at home.
De Bruyne got City back into the game in the 61st minute and from then on PSG had no answers.
From the first half you could notice the spaces that PSG were allowed to run into, they also gave City a lot of room to move the ball even though they didn’t capitalize on it. In the second half, City used the spaces well and made sure Di Maria, Mbappe and Neymar could only make runs in their half. The change that saw Cancelo who was on a yellow come off for Zinchenko also play a major role.
The comeback was completed when Mahrez scored an amazing free kick in the 71st minute due to a shady wall from PSG. It was like the scale fell off the eyes of PSG players as they saw their dream fade away in 45 minutes. Gana made matters worse when he lost his head and made a very horrible tackle on Gundogan which saw him get a straight red towards the end of the game.
City were spectacular, many people believed they would crash like a pack of cards. Their defensive dominance continued, they made sure they stopped the runs of the prolific Neymar and Mbappe could not make the dashing runs he is known for. This is the second top youngster that failed to perform against City. On the other hand Phil Foden was having a good game, giving Pep more reasons to start him ahead of Sterling. He had 100% (3) take ons, 100% shot accuracy (3) and 92% pass accuracy.
This could be Pep’s chance to prove everyone wrong, those that claim he could only do it with Messi, those that say he could only do it at Barcelona. Even though they would still claim he did it after spending close to a billion on players, at least he would have won another Champions League with another team.
This is why my agenda against Sterling still stands, he needs to step up and really build up his game if he wants back into the team. People say he is world class but I do not see it just yet, he needs to do more, take his chances, be more consistent and actually choose either he is a creator or a scorer, he cannot be both when he is missing sitters.
Can City win the UCL this season? It is looking like it. Tell us what you think in the comment section.
