MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s 4-2 defeat by Paris St Germain told only part of the story of Enzo Maresca’s first loss as City boss, with his men staggering through the first half before roaring back after the break.
Playing their first home game since an independent commission found them guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules, City were staring at a rout when a rampant PSG raced into a 3-0 lead with a first-half masterclass.
Then City woke up.
Maresca’s side tore into the visitors after halftime, pouring forward with an intensity and urgency that had been entirely absent in the opening 45 minutes.
Erling Haaland spearheaded the fightback, scoring twice to become the fastest player to reach 60 Champions League goals, hitting the mark in just 60 games, 20 quicker than Lionel Messi.
City kept coming. They finished with nearly twice as many shots as PSG and around three times as many touches in the opposition box, while recording a higher expected-goals figure at both halftime and fulltime. PSG, though, were more ruthless.
“I think we start quite good until the first goal (from Desire Doue in the 13th minute) and then we concede the second one (Ousmane Dembele) after one minute. That created some bad feelings,” Maresca told TNT Sports.
“Second half, we were much better and probably deserved something more.”
City had arrived on the back of a 3-0 thrashing of Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday and Maresca felt they generated enough chances to salvage something even after digging themselves a three-goal hole.
“Even with 3-0 in the first half, with the amount of chances we created in the second half, we deserved more,” he said. “Luis (Enrique, PSG’s manager) said at the end of the game that they were quite lucky today.
“You have to be clinical but not lose the balance,” Maresca said.
The defeat unfolded against a backdrop of turmoil stretching far beyond City, with the fallout from the seismic verdict over the 114 breaches sending shockwaves through the Premier League and making City the villains of English football in the eyes of many.
They have denied wrongdoing and have appealed.
On the pitch, they remain three points clear of Arsenal atop the Premier League table ahead of Saturday’s home game against Ipswich.
Asked if he had a message for supporters, Maresca said: “We are sorry for the first half for sure. Saturday is a Premier League game and we need to continue our run.”