Pep Guardiola rued Manchester City’s inability to hold on to a 2-0 lead after they crashed to a 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain tonight that leaves their Champions League hopes dangling by a thread.
City must now beat Club Brugge at the Etihad next week to stand any chance of squeezing into the playoffs following a sobering night in the French capital.
Goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland appeared to have put City in control but PSG, who started the evening in danger themselves, stormed back.
Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola drew PSG level before late efforts from Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos completed a remarkable comeback.
Man City slip down into the Champions League elimination zone after losing to PSG 📉 pic.twitter.com/sgLURkV5rB
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 22, 2025
Guardiola told TNT Sports: “The game was never like we wanted but for that I give so much credit to PSG. They are an extraordinary team. But at 2-0 if we could manage it… but they scored right after.
“Then if we could keep the ball a little bit and stay like that it would have been better but we could not do it.
“To defend the result you have to keep the ball and we did not do that. They had it more, they attacked better and that is why it was difficult.
“I accept the defeat because the best team won.”
We have one last chance – Pep
Exiting the competition at this early stage would be a bitter blow for City in what has been a disappointing season but Guardiola admitted it was now a possibility.
He added: “We have a last chance at home against Club Brugge. If we win then hopefully we can qualify.
“If we don’t win, we don’t deserve it. Sporting is tough, PSG is tough, Juventus is tough, all the away games we had were difficult. This is the reality. We did not get enough points. The last game against Bruges will dictate what we have to do.”
