The sea battle at Parc des Princes truly sank Man City. The away team was overwhelmed for most of the competition, creating fewer chances, suffering more attacks and picking up more balls in the net.
This convincing defeat pushed Man City down to the elimination group. In the final match, they hosted Club Brugge at the Etihad Stadium with the mission of having to win. The rate of Man City entering the play-off round is still very high if they win all 3 points. However, that rate has not reached 100% so there is still a risk for the reigning Premier League champions.
If Man City are eliminated early, this could be the biggest shock of the 2024-2025 Champions League season when changing the format for the first time before the knockout round. While on the path to a comeback in form, the shock against PSG was really difficult to swallow away for Pep and his students.
The first 45 minutes at " Principess Park" showed that the image of Man City was completely different from what fans had known. For the first time in more than five years, their first-half possession rate was just 36.3%. If it had not been for Ederson's luck or great performances, everything would have ended for the away team early.
Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique both worship the ball control philosophy, but the difference in the last match came in the moments of opportunity transformation. Unlike PSG, there were many situations where Man City had good chances but the visiting stars could not put the ball into the net. The two goals were scored at the beginning of the second half, mostly from mistakes in PSG's defense, rather than Man City finding the loophole to deploy and defeat the opponent.
The victory over Ipswich Town with the tennis set score did not help Man City. The Premier League opponent is too weak to be a quality "blue team" before the decisive match in the Champions League. This defeat shows that their recent stable performance is just a soothing of the previous pain.
From the stands, watching his teammates continuously coming into the net to pick up the ball, Rodri could not hide his sadness. His absence is one of the biggest causes of the current collapse. Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva are new options for Pep to fill Rodri's position, but they are not the ones capable of creating a shield for the defense.
"They are faster and stronger than us in one-on-one confrontations. Man City could not do anything to defend today. The stronger team won well.
This match did not go as we expected. To be able to defend the result, you need to control the ball well, you have to keep the ball in your feet but we cannot do it. PSG had more balls, more attacks and it made us more competitive.
The prospect of Man City not being able to make it to the play-off round may happen, we have to wait and see. If we can't beat Club Brugge, Man City don't deserve anything anymore. This season in the Champions League, we have struggled every time we visit and not getting enough points to be able to decide for ourselves soon" - Pep Guardiola shared after the defeat.
