Manchester City collapse to calamitous defeat at Paris Saint-Germain | Champions League

It ought to have been over. In previous times, it surely would have been. Erling Haaland had tapped in from close range, shortly after the substitute, Jack Grealish, had broken the deadlock. There were 53 minutes on the clock and Manchester City looked ready to breath fresh life into their ailing Champions League campaign.

And yet the current edition of Pep Guardiola’s serial Premier League champions have come to lack the old certainties. They are serially vulnerable to high-tempo flurries from the opposition. The idea was that they would prove in one of European football’s most pulsating arenas that they were back, having moved on from that horror run of one win in 13 from the end of October. They had won four of their previous five matches.

Instead, they fell apart. Again. Paris Saint-Germain were electrified by Bradley Barcola who made their first goal for the substitute, Ousmane Dembélé, and then scored the second himself. Guardiola had reshuffled his back four at half-time, Rúben Dias coming off, Rico Lewis entering at left-back and Josko Gvardiol moving into the middle.

Defensively, City were a shambles, the spaces opening up with alarming regularity. The PSG goal for 3-2 had been signposted and it came after another Guardiola tweak to the backline that saw John Stones come on in the centre. It was a Vitinha free-kick, Stones allowed it to run past him and Joao Neves stooped to score with a powerful header. There would be even more at the very end, the substitute, Goncalo Ramos, making it 4-2.

PSG are back in business, their hopes of qualifying for the playoff round energised but what about City? They must now beat Club Brugge at home next Wednesday in their final group phase tie. There is so much for Guardiola to fix.

It was a night when it was impossible to ignore the anxiety, especially from PSG’s point of view, starting as they had done below City and outside the playoff places. How had it come to this? PSG have been cursed with an almost absurdly difficult series of ties – Arsenal and Bayern Munich away; Atlético Madrid and City here while PSV Eindhoven, the top club in the Dutch league, was no gimme. City had been scrambled during their horrible run when they lost at Sporting and Juventus, drawing at home to Feyenoord, too.

The atmosphere pulsed. What a scene it had been before kick-off – the lights, the pyrotechnics, the giant tifos. It certainly felt a little unnecessary when Desire Doué moved to whip up the ultras on the auteuil turn after he forced Ederson to tip behind at the near post in the early running. They were up for this, all right, and it was plain that City faced a test of their temperament.

This PSG team lacks the star quality of previous vintages and Ousmane Dembélé, probably their highest-profile player, was fit enough only for the bench after struggling with illness. They also lacked a pure No 9 – a major talking point in Paris. Lee Kang-in started as a false one. They are also very obviously an Enrique team, which wants to pass the opposition to death. The issue for them in Europe has been to do with cutting edge.

The first half felt like an extended sizing up exercise. The priority appeared to be not to make a mistake on the ball. Which led to few risks. It was extremely structured; the one-on-one battles pounded. That said, there were chances, including some big ones, none bigger than that for Fabián Ruiz in the 27th minute. He was all alone in the box following a corner, City’s defence having broken down but his shot was cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol.

The margins were tight. PSG had the ball in the net just before the interval when Bradley Barcola teed up Achraf Hakimi, his shot flashing home with the aid of a deflection but the VAR pulled it back for a marginal offside against Nuno Mendes in the build-up. João Neves had headed high when unmarked at the back post on 11 minutes.

For City in the first half, Kevin De Bruyne and Savinho got into good positions but were thwarted by big Gianluigi Donnarumma blocks. Erling Haaland could not quite get over a header, allowing the goalkeeper to save.

City threw off the shackles off at the start of the second half, making bold runs and, in what felt like the blink of an eye, they were two goals to the good. The first was fired by Manuel Akanji pulling a stop-and-go move on Mendes and getting his cross in from the byline. Donnarumma blocked well (again) from Bernardo Silva at close range but after a double deflection off Marquinhos and Donnarumma, the ball broke for Grealish, who lashed home.

The second was all about a striding diagonal run by Matheus Nunes and a little bit more fortune when Grealish’s cut-back was inadvertently played into Haaland by the stretching Neves. Haaland could not miss from point-blank range.

The Parc was not silent for long, PSG roaring back, Barcola showing off his pace and creative instincts. He had been criticised for his Champions League performances. Here was the answer. He was too skilful for Nunes, streaking past him and away from Mateo Kovacic to square for Dembélé to score. And he was so quick to react after Doué came inside and rattled the crossbar with a curling shot. Barcola’s finish was steered inside the far corner.

PSG pressed hard onto the front foot. City’s heads spun. Dembele nutmegged Silva to crash a shot against the crossbar and, after Neves’s goal, they poured on the pain, Ramos running riot before his late goal stood after a VAR review.