PSG vs Manchester City: All you need to know
Manchester City travel to face Paris Saint-Germain in the biggest game of this season’s Champions League.
The two domestic champions of England and France are struggling in Europe this term and face the possibility of elimination at the first hurdle.
They have both won just two of their first six Champions League games, and failure to win today would leave them staring at an early exit.
- Kick-off time: 8pm GMT, 3pm ET, 12pm PT
- How to watch: TNT Sports, Discovery+ (UK), Paramount+ (U.S.)
- Venue: Parc des Princes, Paris
- Team news: Line-ups announced 75 minutes before kick-off.
How City used Doku to dominate the left flank
And Guardiola heaped praise on winger Jeremy Doku, who started on the left despite team-mate Savinho’s bright recent form and rewarded the manager with a superb showing and lots of goals created down that side.
“Today he was brilliant — I’m really pleased for him,” Guardiola said after the match.
“His incredible qualities are his dribbling. With the way we play, to have a player who can dribble… the scenario opens up and looks completely different when attacking in the final third.”
Indeed, 46 percent of City’s attacking touches came down the left third of the pitch in the first half — with a majority share of 41 percent by the final whistle.
Pep Guardiola: Phil Foden is finally ‘happy again’
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted he is pleased to see Phil Foden “happy again” after the 24-year-old scored two goals for the second time in the space of six days during Sunday’s 6-0 win against Ipswich.
Foden won the PFA Player of the Year award last season after scoring a career-high total of 19 league goals; he failed to score in his first 11 Premier League appearances this season but now has five in his last three.
Guardiola said: “The most significant quality for Phil is around the box, having the goal in his blood, in his bones, in his mind. That is why we look to put the ball into central positions because he has that specific quality.
“Sometimes his last pass can be a little better, but he will improve. There is no reason he cannot be a one-club man and play many, many years. He is a City fan, and you already look at the amount of goals and assists he has and the work ethic (he brings).
“He was a completely different boy to how he arrived at the beginning of the season. He had a few problems, but they are human beings and sometimes you have a setback. We are really pleased he is happy again and enjoying playing, and that is really good for all of us.”
Two giants clash with far more jeopardy than expected
You have to scroll a long way down the Champions League table to find the likes of Real Madrid (22nd), Manchester City (24th) and Paris Saint-Germain (26th).
It’s PSG against City in Paris tonight, and it’s an occasion laced with a level of jeopardy nobody expected. Tonight’s showdown — “a final,” Guardiola calls it — is precisely the occasion the Champions League needs.
Rather than a dead rubber, the Parc des Princes will be staging a dogfight.
Both teams made hugely underwhelming starts in Europe’s premier competition and are far from guaranteed safe passage to the knockout phase. PSG are in a particularly perilous position having accumulated a mere seven points from their opening six matches, currently leaving them outside the play-off qualification spots.
PSG vs Man City H2H record (last five games)
- PSG: 1 win
- Man City: 4 wins
- Draws: 0
- Last meeting: Man City 2-1 PSG (24 November 2021) – Champions League
